Life After Glenbogle
by TheBoglies
Summary: Archie and Lexie have finally found their niche in life. See what happens in "Life After Glenbogle".
1. Part 1

LIFE AFTER GLENBOGLE PART ONE By: Janey and Rachel It was a beautiful spring day as Lexie made her way up the lane, she had been in Banbridge for three weeks, it felt like much longer than that. She and Archie had spent ages working out what would be the best for their future and had decided on an outside catering business 'Occasions and Celebrations'. They had then spent time scouring the country deciding where to base themselves. They both decided the city wasn't somewhere they wanted to bring up children and stumbled across a wonderful property in Northumberland between the Cheviot Hills and the stunning coastline. Molly had been delighted as it was only about a 4 hour drive from Glenbogle. They had to move quickly on the purchase of the property, an old run down farmhouse on the edge of the village, with outbuildings which were perfect for the business, office and an industrial kitchen. Thanks to Archie's inheritance form his Uncle Jolyon who had tragically died they had the necessary money. Before they knew it the property had been theirs, although it wasn't habitable they had managed to rent a beautiful cottage in the same village so they had somewhere to stay whilst renovations took place. They had spent a week gutting the place, which had been hard work, but worth it and more fun had been the evenings they had spent discussing the furnishings for their new home, lying in front of an open fire drinking wine and just enjoying each others company. Lexie had then gone back to Glenbogle for three weeks to tie up all the loose ends and Archie had remained in Banbridge to oversee work by the electrician to rewire the place, the treatment of some dry rot and the replumbing of the bathroom, kitchen and installation of an en suite for their bedroom. Now here they were decorating and styling their home. Lexie couldn't believe how happy she was, although she hadn't initially wanted to leave Glenbogle, she realised how right it had been. Archie seemed more relaxed than ever and the wonder and pleasure of it just being the two of them was immeasurable, no one else to worry about or intrude on them, she felt they were closer than ever and she knew Archie felt the same. Lexie stepped back into reality. She had spent the morning on the phone getting quotes for the equipment needed for the catering kitchen, she had managed to find a company based in Newcastle who were going to come out the next day to discuss their requirements. She had packed lunch and was on her way to see how Archie was getting on with the decorating. Archie and decorating were not two words she would normally want to put together, and to be honest she was slightly dubious about his DIY and decorating skills! But he had been so enthusiastic she hadn't wanted to dampen his spirits. He was painting and putting up tiles in the kitchen, what could possibly go wrong with a relatively straightforward job? She arrived at their house and called out his name "Archie, Arch" he soon appeared looking a little dishevelled but none the less happy and smiling. "Lex" he said kissing her "lunch I'm starving, how did you get on this morning? Thought as it was a nice day we could have lunch outside, come on I found a perfect spot" he said grabbing her hand. "But Arch I want to see what you have been up to all morning." 


	2. Part 2

Life Afer Glenbogle Part Two  
  
"Oh, there's plenty of time for that later." Archie said matter-of-factly dragging her away from the house.  
  
Lexie was beginning to get suspicious. "Look Arch, it's alright. If things haven't gone exactly to plan it doesn't matter. We can easily get someone in to finish the job." Lexie knew all too well that Archie did not have a great track record where decorating was concerned. She could still remember his original attempts to convert Jamie's old room. They ended with a rather large hole in the ceiling. Archie had forcefully denied any blame for this but then if you choose to chase people through attics what do you expect.  
  
On this occasion she realised that it was best to just give in to Archie's insistence, but made a mental note to investigate the new kitchen as soon as his back was turned.  
  
Archie led her through the garden, which was still largely overgrown. He had found a lovely spot under an old oak tree that spread itself over the front garden and the lane that led to the house. Lexie opened up the plastic boxes she had brought with her and they tucked in. There was a nice dry mossy bank under the tree and Archie sat down with his back to the trunk and motioned for Lexie to join him. She settled herself comfortably on the ground between Archie's legs and rested her head on his shoulder.  
  
They sat in silence for a while, gazing contentedly at their new purchase. It was a lovely house, even if it was in need of a lick of paint and some TLC. The oldest part of the house dated from the 17th century and was made of locally quarried stone. Over the years there had been several additions and changes to what had probably once been a small manor house and for many years it had been a proper working farm so there were a number of outbuildings spread around the farmyard. It may not have had the stature of Glenbogle but it was their own little haven and they loved it already.  
  
Archie gave a sleepy sigh. "Happy?"  
  
Lexie nodded her agreement and added, "You know Arch I can't believe this is our home now. We were so lucky to find somewhere as beautiful as this. At first I couldn't understand why you would want to get away from Glenbogle. It took me a while to finally understand that much as you loved the place you still had other things you needed to achieve in your life."  
  
Lexie pulled idly at a few grass stalks and then continued dreamily, "I never thought I could be happy anywhere other than Glenbogle or would want to be. But you were right. These last few weeks I've discovered that I can be happy anywhere as long as you're there too."  
  
She smiled at the thought and let the broken blades of grass fall gently through her fingers to the ground.  
  
"Don't get me wrong," she continued, "I do miss everyone, but at least they're not too far away and as soon as we have the guest rooms sorted they'll be able to come and stay. Who shall we have as our first guest?"  
  
There was no reply. Lexie looked round, irritated slightly by the lack of response, only to find that Archie was fast asleep with a contended smile on his face. Lexie, feeling a little miffed, muttered "typical." with a giggle. Then a look of pure cunning crept across her face. Ever so gently she began to edge herself away from her resting place in Archie's lap. As she became free she stood up. She quickly checked that Archie was still asleep and then headed purposefully towards the kitchen. She was sure from his determination to keep her away that some mishap had occurred and was set on finding out what Archie had done now. She just hoped that this time there was no real structural damage.  
  
Lexie approached the stable door to the kitchen with some trepidation. The top half was open and she could see in. Everything looked pretty normal so she undid the latch and walked cautiously in. No, it wasn't the tiling. That was looking really good – it was in a lovely shade of blue to go with the yellow walls. She stalked around the kitchen, convinced something must be wrong but in fact the whole kitchen appeared pristine except for a few packing cases that had been piled up in the centre. She didn't remember them having been there before and was curious as to what could be in them. Finding some scissors handy she attacked the first box and as the loose wrappings on the top fell away she found herself looking down on a very familiar picture of a castle. One that a nine year old delinquent had drawn a long time ago.  
  
"Aaah, Archie must have packed it." she muttered to herself as she placed it on the side. Underneath it had been placed a note in Molly's familiar handwriting.  
  
"Archie dear, I just thought you and Lexie might be missing some of these things so I've packed them up for you. I thought you would find some of them very useful. It really doesn't feel right for us to keep them now. Lots of love to you both."  
  
Lexie smiled and put the picture and the letter gently down again before peering deeper into the box. Inside were all her old pots and pans and utensils from the kitchen at Glenbogle. She ran her hands over the familiar tools and began to feel even more at home. As she started to unpack them the tears welled in her eyes. She didn't notice she was no longer alone until she felt Archie's arms slip round her waist.  
  
"Hey, I thought I had told you no looking," he laughed. When he noticed that she had not responded as he had expected he swung her round and was shocked to see the tears.  
  
"Is it that bad? If the colour's not right we can change it. I know it took us three weeks to agree on the blue and yellow but we can still do something about it if you want."  
  
Archie, still concerned, continued. "Actually I thought I'd done quite a good job," he said, looking somewhat puzzled by her response.  
  
Lexie attempted to pull herself together and wiped her eyes with a handy tea towel. She turned to place her hands on Archie's shoulders. "Look I know I'm being stupid but all my life I've never been able to have a place I could call mine. Somewhere I could do things like choose the decorations and the furniture. Decide which room for what and where things should go. I've always had to go with what everyone else wanted. But this is the first room to be finished just how I wanted and this house is my first real home. Well, our home, but you know what I mean.  
  
Archie gently drew her into a comforting hug. "Well, you had me worried there for a minute. Thought I really was going to have to do this again."  
  
Lexie looked up, laughing through her tears. Archie smiled as he wiped them away. "Now come on. Let's look ahead. We've got so much to look forward to."  
  
He reached forward to cup her head in his hands and raised her face upwards to meet his for a long, lingering kiss. For a few moments they only had thoughts for each other. However, the mood was suddenly broken by the shattering sound of a tile falling to the floor. 


	3. part 3

LIFE AFTER GLENBOGLE PART 3 Lexie pulled away from Archie giggling "I knew it" she said pointing her finger at Archie "Archie Macdonald you and DIY don't mix very well, now look we have a shattered tile, now what am I to do with you?" she said with a mischievous glint in her eye as she bent to pick up the tile, "honestly this is just like the gaping hole in the ceiling you created in Jamie's old room!" Archie made a grab for her and pulled her close "well if I remember rightly" he said smiling suggestively "that event had an ending I particularly enjoyed and you did too, shall I just say Curtains!" "Now Archie its the middle of the day we have loads to do, not least replace the fallen tile before anymore......." before she could continue Archie was kissing her forcefully, "oh Archie" she murmured as they fell back onto the old sofa, which was so far the only piece of furniture in the kitchen. Suddenly they were interrupted by a loud knocking at the door and the gruff sound of a throat being cleared "excuse me, Mr and Mrs Macdonald?" Archie looked up to see a face peering through the open top half of the stable door "yes" he said. "I've come to deliver and install your aga." responded a flustered looking man in green overalls. Lexie jumped up pulling down her top, hoping she didn't look too dishevelled. She and Archie had both forgotten about the delivery. Before she went over to the door, she turned, looked at Archie, smiled and whispered "later!" blowing him a kiss. He smiled back and whispered "oh yes!" Lexie let the man into the kitchen who introduced himself as Mr Hurst, together the three of them discussed the installation of the aga, particularly where they wanted it positioned, everything appeared to be straightforward. "Right then lad will you give us a hand bringing it in" Mr Hurst asked Archie, "sure, no problem" replied Archie as he followed him out of the kitchen, he paused and turned to Lexie "you sure the stable door for the kitchen was a good idea? I felt like a teenager being sprung earlier!" Lexie swiped at him with a tea towel, laughed and said "go on away with you, focus on the job in hand and give Mr Hurst some help!" Still smiling to herself, Lexie turned to the boxes Molly had sent, then remembered the tile and thought she'd better get on with finding a replacement and fixing it to the wall. She could see Archie would be helping Mr Hurst for a while, although she wondered if hindering might be more accurate, poor old Archie she thought. Meanwhile outside Archie was attempting to help Mr Hurst, it was proving a little tricky as Mr Hurst was not very good at explaining what he wanted Archie to do, eventually they got the aga to the kitchen door. Archie had his back to the door "what are you doing lad?" "slight problem the aga won't fit through the door! Nothing for it the door will have to come off its hinges so we can ease it through" Mr Hurst started muttering under his breath. Archie went off to get his tool box, he stopped in his tracks "Lex what are you doing?" "fixing a wall tile, what does it look like?!" she asked quizzically "but do you know what you are doing I mean, you've got to line it up check with a spirit level, use enough tiling adhesive and grout" Lexie looked at him "ok, ok, sorry" "what is happening with the aga anyway?" Lexie asked "won't fit through the door, its going to have to come off, told you that door would be trouble" he smiled, he then added in a whisper "I think Mr Hurst is not best pleased there was a lot of muttering, reminded me of father!" "well I'm finished here, sounds like we all need a cup of tea" Lexie responded Lexie made tea for the three of them and Mr Hurst was much more chatty after, telling them tales of his lifetime of experiences as an aga fitter. After a couple of hours the aga was installed and leaving a multitude of instructions., he went on his way. Lexie looked admiringly at the gleaming blue aga, with its black hoods and stainless steel rails, she then looked round the kitchen, more or less finished now with the sofa and its belfast sink. She imagined a welsh dresser, a large farmhouse table and chairs, maybe a cat asleep on the sofa, the wind flapping the curtains at the window and then she saw herself in there nursing a baby, she almost felt she had to pinch herself at the thought that this dream could easily become a reality. If only she could shake off her doubts about having children, she knew they were ridiculous, she wasn't her mother and she knew in her heart of hearts that any child she and Archie had would grow up surrounded by love in a happy fun filled home. Archie watched his wife and could see a distant look in her eyes, but a smile on her lips, he wondered what she was thinking, she looked so happy and contented. He then began to think about how he had left her for so long to go to Nepal, sometimes he wondered how he could and have done it. He knew why he'd done it, he didn't regret that , what he regretted was going for so long and leaving Lexie so bereft. He knew he couldn't begin to imagine how hard it must have been for her, he had left her with a burden of feelings, a little confused and in the knowledge that he didn't want to live at Glenbogle anymore, not to mention the emotional and physical distance between them. He snapped out of it, why ponder on the past when the future had such possibilities and they was so very happy and so in love. Suddenly Lexie was aware Archie was speaking "Right then Lex, I guess we better go and check the outbuilding for the industrial kitchen for this meeting tomorrow before we go back to the cottage. He took her by the hand and led her outside. 


	4. Part 4

Life after Glenbogle Part Four  
  
Archie and Lexie entered the old farmyard and walked across to the small barn that was destined to be the new kitchen. The brilliant sunshine of earlier had now been replaced by dark clouds and there was a distinct nip to the late April air as they hurried to get inside quickly.  
  
"Brrr! It's freezing in here and I can hardly see a thing" exclaimed Lexie. "Put the light on Arch".  
  
"Err, we don't exactly have one yet Lex. That's something the fitters are going to deal with."  
  
"Well, how are we going to see anything in this light?" asked Lexie with sarcasm in her voice.  
  
"Well we'll just have to get here early in the morning and have a good look round before the man arrives," Archie replied.  
  
As they walked back to the house they could hear the distant ringing of the phone.  
  
"Now, who's that? How many people know this number and would be calling at this time?" Archie considered before running on ahead to answer the call. The phone wasn't that easy to find. It had been buried under all the wrappings from Molly's boxes that were now standing in the hall. Paper and cardboard went flying everywhere before Archie managed to locate the phone and hold it to his ear.  
  
"Hello."  
  
Lexie arrived in the hall and looked at him enquiringly.  
  
"Oh, mother, how are you?" he responded, "And everyone else?"  
  
Lexie mouthed to him 'Say hello from me' and he nodded at her.  
  
"Yes, yes we're both really well. Lexie wants me to says hi from her. We just had the new aga installed and the kitchen is nearly finished now. Your boxes came this morning and Lexie's been unpacking them this afternoon. You shouldn't have gone to all that trouble."  
  
"No, no, we were about to leave actually."  
  
"I don't know. I'll ask Lex." He called to Lexie who had wandered back to the kitchen and was inspecting her new aga. "Lex ... Lex ... mother wants to know if you've got any idea where the quake was put.  
  
Lexie popped her head round the door. "Erm .... I think it's in the chest in the study or .. if not .. try looking in the cabinet in the library. Oh, and ask her how Golly and Duncan are ... and tell her to tell Ewan that the freezer needs defrosting. If he doesn't do it soon then the door will get stuck open and the food will go off."  
  
Archie started to relay the information to Molly while Lexie wandered back to the kitchen and warmed her hands in front of the aga. She looked around the kitchen for something to use to christen the new oven. There were a few eggs on the side that Archie had collected from the handful of hens left behind by the previous occupants. There was still some bread left from their lunch along with some milk, tea and butter. "Looks like scrambled eggs on toast then" she muttered.  
  
Lexie rummaged around in the recently arrived collection from Glenbogle and set to work while Archie continued his telephone conversation in the hall. By the time he had finished and returned to the kitchen she had almost completed her task.  
  
"What's all this?"  
  
Lexie looked at him mischievously. "Well, I was going to wait for you to do this as you're sooo much better at scrambled eggs than me."  
  
"Aaaah, yes, scrambled eggs. Nothing better" he commented as he took the plate with a knowing smile.  
  
"You know Arch, I was thinking. We have to be here early in the morning. Well this place has warmed up nicely now the aga is working and I was just wondering .. well, maybe ..."  
  
"Yeeeess?" Archie had a bemused look on his face as he watched his wife turn into a pleading child.  
  
"Well, why don't we just stay here tonight. It's lovely and warm and this sofa is big enough for the both of us and we could get that blanket in from the car and there's still some food left for breakfast and we have to be here early in the morning anyway and the cottage will be cold if we go back now and .....  
  
"OK, how many more reasons can you come up with?" Archie rolled his eyes at Lexie who had now turned all doey eyed and was mouthing "Please" at him. How could he possibly refuse the love of his life.  
  
"Oh, alright then, but I bet we don't get a wink of sleep."  
  
"That's my intention," Lexie replied with a disarming look.  
  
Archie raised his eyebrows speculatively.  
  
Over supper Archie began recounting his conversation with Molly.  
  
"She said everything was alright up there but I just sensed that she wasn't telling the whole truth. I think that since you left she must have been feeling a bit lonely. I know she talks to Golly a lot but I think she really misses your little chats. Perhaps you could give her a call tomorrow."  
  
Lexie contemplated this for a while. "It's not just that Arch. You weren't there last winter. When she found out you were giving up Glenbogle it was a huge shock to her. You have to remember that she thought hers and our future was pretty well mapped out. You would be laird, we'd still live there and our children would be born there. She really couldn't see any of this coming, let alone Paul taking up the lairdship. She has coped so well but I know it hurts her. She even told Golly that she thought her future had been stolen. You don't get over a thing like that in just a few months."  
  
Archie paused and contemplated this.  
  
"I hadn't thought about it like that. She never let on to me that was how she felt. I know what I did was selfish but it was something that I felt I had to do. You don't know how much freer I feel here. I love Glenbogle, you know that, but I was never totally convinced that it was meant to be mine. Glenbogle was meant for Jamie and when he died I was just the caretaker until Paul came along. I hope mother can come to understand that.  
  
Lexie wrapped her arms round him and gave him a reassuring squeeze before resting her head on his shoulder.  
  
"It'll be alright, I'm sure"  
  
Archie sighed, "It still doesn't resolve the question of mother."  
  
"Well, let's make sure that Molly is our first house guest as soon as we move in here properly." Lexie suggested.  
  
Having agreed on their first houseguest they decided to settle down for an early night. Archie brought the blanket in from the car, Lexie found some old pillows and they settled down comfortably on the sofa. There was an air of quiet contentment.  
  
"Penny for them?" Lexie inquired, as Archie was absent-mindedly stroking her hair.  
  
"Oh, I was just imagining us here in a few years time. You know, with the house sorted, the business up and running, the folk from Glenbogle coming on visits ... and maybe children playing in the garden?"  
  
He looked at her quizzically.  
  
"Yes, I was thinking something the same this afternoon. This house would just suit a family, but you know we agreed to get the business running first." Lexie reminded him with a smile.  
  
"There's no harm in thinking ahead though is there?"  
  
"Plenty of time for that Mr. Macdonald. Just for now, I'm enjoying having you all to myself."  
  
"You know I'm so lucky to have you, Lex."  
  
"Yes, you are." Lexie giggled and, placing her arm round his neck, she pulled his lips down to engage hers. 


	5. Part 5

PART FIVE "Thanks Arch" said Lexie yawning absentmindedly as he handed her a drink. "I don't know why you're yawning, you're the one who kept me awake last night Alexandra!" Archie teased her "Me, you started it!" Lexie replied hitting him on the arm. "me well I suppose it takes two to tango, but revenge is mine" he said winking at her. "Right then Mrs M down to business." "Do we have to, can't we give ourselves a lunch break? I thought that was the idea of coming to the pub." asked Lexie pleadingly "We'll make a deal, discuss the business now, then the decorating and then after lunch we could go over to that antique furniture shop in the next village." "Deal" agreed Lexie. The landlord appeared with their meals "ah you're the young couple who've taken over the old farmhouse at the south end of the village, bit of a state but it will be good to have people living there again, moved from far?" "We've moved down from Scotland, I'm Archie Macdonald and this is my wife Lexie, pleased to meet you" they all shock hands as the landlord introduced himself as Dan Shaw. "So" asked Dan "what are you going to be doing here?" Archie began to explain about the catering business and how they were using some of the outbuildings as an industrial kitchen and offices. "Sounds interesting" mused Dan, "you know I've been running this pub for just over a year now and I've been wondering about doing functions here, the trouble is the catering side of things, we simply haven't got the kitchen space. I can run to a few bar snacks but nothing else, you know maybe we could do something together?" "Certainly sounds like a possibility, we are hoping to have the kitchen functioning in about 3 weeks, maybe we could meet up then to discuss this further, what do you think Lex?" Lexie nodded in agreement just as Dan got called back to the bar, after he had gone she added "we mustn't be too hasty Arch, we know nothing about him and I don't want to end up catering for a pub!" "mmm true but if people booked the function room and part of the package was us doing the catering that would probably work, anyway where are we up to with all the bumph from the printers, what did they say when you phoned them earlier?" "They said everything should be ready by the end of the week business cards, enquiry forms and menu planners. I only got 100 of everything printed which was more expensive, because of getting everything changed once we have the phone number for the office after the refurbishments are complete. But I got a good deal, as they knew they would get more business from us. Arch what happened about getting those enlarged photos done for the display and what are we going to do about the brochure design?" "Well the photos are with that graphic design mate of mine in London, and we really need to sit and down and think about the brochure design, although I was wondering if just menu samples would be better as they can be updated during each reprint and are less expensive" "yes that probably is a better idea Arch, I mean that is what people will really want to know what food we can prepare and cook. You know I did have another idea, maybe for next year after we see how things progress, how about turning part of the old stable block into a tea room, I'm sure there must be a certain amount of tourist trade through here" "that is an interesting idea Lex, definitely something we should consider I had no idea I had married such a business brain!" "I have many hidden talents you know nothing about Archie Macdonald!" "oh yes tell me more!" "all in good time Arch" Lexie replied teasingly. "Is it this week, the plumber is coming back to finish off the tiling and cosmetic work in the bathrooms?" she continued "Yes tomorrow he starts, he gets back from his holiday today he thought it would take a couple of days" "So" smiled Lexie "when he has finished we will have a fully functional kitchen and bathroom, so we could move in permanently" "Lex, where would we sleep, I'm not sure if spending another night on that sofa with you is a good idea!" "Archie Macdonald, where is your sense of adventure and romance, honestly! Anyway, we might find the perfect bed when we are out today and I have the decorating and colour scheme all planned in my head, it's going to be perfect!" "You have! Do I get any say in the matter?" teased Archie "or am I merely an accessory?" "Oh no not an accessory, an essential part, but I want to decorate it as a surprise, trust me you'll love it!" "I'm sure I will" replied Archie kissing her "so lets write a list, we should go to the DIY superstore as well as the furniture place, then we can really get stuck in. Oh and Lex I was thinking of asking Duncan if he fancied popping down for a long weekend to help with the decorating" "Duncan?" "Yes, why the hesitation?" "Well his track record isn't that great, he stepped in the paint when you were doing Jamie's old room, yes I know I wasn't supposed to know but and you didn't see his attempt when Jess moved into the big house, are you sure this is wise?" "Of course, we give him paint, we give a paintbrush what could possibly go wrong?" "mmmmm" responded Lexie "come on let's go, you drive I'll write the list in the car" As Archie drove, Lexie began to write a list of the paint they needed for the various rooms, raspberry for their bathroom, white for their bedroom , she must remember to order the fabric for the curtains, cushions and also the bed linen, light blue for the family bathroom, cream for the downstairs cloakroom. "Lex don't forget to add roller brushes, masking tape and turps to the list will you. You know we really need to make our final decisions about the dining room, sitting room and all the other rooms as well, ah here we are" Archie said as they arrived at the antique furniture shop which really wasn't an adequate description, Aladdin's cave would have been better. As they entered there displayed in the middle of the shop was a beautiful antique bed, they looked at each other laughed, Lexie grabbed Archie's hand and dragged him to sit on the bed. "Right" she said we have to bounce to make sure it has good springs and then lie down to make sure its comfy!" "You sound very experienced in this matter Mrs Macdonald" responded Archie quizzically but he did as he was asked, they agreed it was not only comfortable but beautiful but also expensive. Lexie rolled over and leant her chin on her hand, she knew Archie was going to need some persuading . "So Arch" she began trailing her fingers down his chest " you have to agree its great, comfy, spacious plenty of room for some fun, no more nights on the sofa and when we have children imagine Christmas morning, you, me and maybe two, three children opening stockings, this bed has to be ours!" Archie sat up, grinning and said "don't think I don't know what you are doing, I saw the price tag but I agree its perfect, it shall be ours!" Lexie hugged him, and said excitedly "just look at that dresser over there" she jumped off the bed and walked over towards a gorgeous dresser standing at the side of the shop. 


	6. Part 6

Part Six  
  
Archie and Lexie finally left the antique shop having negotiated the purchase of not only the bed and the dresser but also a beautiful old oak dining table and a set of matching chairs that Lexie had discovered in another room. The dealer was, of course, delighted with such generous custom and readily agreed to an early delivery in just two day's time.  
  
On their way home they called in at the estate agent to warn him that they would soon be moving out of the cottage, then dashed over the road to the post office to grab some change of address cards before it closed.  
  
"Now at last we can tell everybody where we are," said Archie, "I'm fed up with opening all that redirected mail from Glenbogle. I'm sure half of it never arrives at all."  
  
They were about to get back in the car when they saw Dan, the landlord of the village pub, hurrying across the road towards them.  
  
"Hi, there. Shopping a success I hope?" he enquired when he reached their side of the road.  
  
"Well, let's say that the antique shop won't be going out of business this week" replied Archie winking at Lexie. "Now all we've got to do is finish decorating the bedroom before the bed arrives."  
  
"Well I'm so glad I caught you before you left, because I was hoping to persuade you to pop into the pub this evening. We're having a quiz night tonight and lots of the villagers will be coming in. It'd be a great chance for you to meet some of the locals," he added, as if to reinforce the argument.  
  
Archie gave Lexie a quizzical look. He knew she had been itching to get back and make a start on the decorating but also knew that she was keen for them to make friends with more of the local people. They had hardly spoken to any of them since their arrival and, after all, it might be a good way to promoting their business.  
  
Lexie didn't pause for very long. "Hmmm, decorating or quiz?" She spread her hands in front of her as if weighing up the pros and cons. "Well, we have bought the paint and the furniture today and that was pretty tiring."  
  
Archie was quick to pick up on her thoughts. "Right then, pub quiz it is. What time does it kick off then?"  
  
Having established that they still had time to get back and change, they dropped off the painting materials at the house before dashing back to the cottage. Lexie began to leaf through her wardrobe but it wasn't long before Archie sensed that she wasn't happy. "Anything wrong Lex?"  
  
"No, it's OK. Well I think it is."  
  
Sensing that she was preoccupied Archie wandered off for a shower and returned a few minutes later dressed in a casual shirt and fresh jeans that he'd found in the airing cupboard, only to find that Lexie did not appear to have achieved anything in his absence. She was wandering round the bedroom with a rather frantic air of annoyance and virtually the entire contents of her wardrobe spread out on the bed.  
  
"What on earth happened here? Did I miss the bomb going off?" Archie commented dryly as he picked up a couple of skirts to reveal a corner of the bed that he could perch on. "Ready to go then?" he asked naively.  
  
"Does it look like it?" Lexie threw him an exasperated look. "I'm still trying to decide what to wear."  
  
Archie shrugged. "Well it doesn't really matter does it? It's only a night at the local pub."  
  
Lexie glared. "You have no idea, do you, Archie Macdonald, how important this evening is. This is our first chance to make an impression and it has to be the right one."  
  
Archie tried in vain to hide his amused expression. This only infuriated Lexie further. She stood in front of him, hands on hips. "This is not funny Arch. I need your advice. I can't decide. Trousers or skirt? Smart or casual?" She held up some examples.  
  
He perused the garments presented for his judgement and felt like the man at Christmas who was given two ties but could only wear one. He realised that his future happiness might rest on his next statement. Cautiously he responded.  
  
"Why not wear that blue dress you bought last week."  
  
Lexie pulled it out of the pile and held it in front of her to look in the mirror. She winced "You don't think it looks too dressy then?"  
  
"Well why not just go as you are?" he offered.  
  
Lexie picked up a nearby pile of clothes and chucked them in Archie's direction. "What! In my dressing gown! That would certainly make an impression – but maybe not the right one." She smiled weakly and flopped on the bed.  
  
"Well I think you look fantastic in whatever you wear." He pulled her over to give her a reassuring squeeze and planted a kiss on the top of her head. "Now pick out what you're going to wear and get in the shower."  
  
Lexie, realising that time was running out, pulled out a red floaty off the shoulder top to wear with her new black trousers and then rushed into the shower. When she returned the room had been miraculously restored to its former glory and Archie was nowhere to be seen. She slipped on her shoes, grabbed her bag and rushed down the stairs, thinking she was late. Only to find Archie reclining on an armchair with the phone to his ear. She looked over at him and tapped her wrist to warn him that time was ticking on. He pointed at the phone and mouthed the word 'Duncan' back to her.  
  
Five minutes later the phone call was over and they left the cottage to walk to the pub.  
  
"So," commented Lexie as she slipped her arm through Archie's, "Have we got a lodger coming then? You did warn him that he'd have to rough it a bit didn't you?"  
  
"Yes, of course I did. He nearly bit my hand off actually. Can't wait. I sense there might be problems there between him and Jess. Needs a break away from it all, I expect." Archie mused.  
  
"Aaah, it's a shame with those two. We'll have to see if we can find out what's going on." Lexie's mind travelled back to Glenbogle. It was strange, not knowing instantly how things were shaping up there. She made a mental note to get all the gossip from Duncan. Though, if she was honest, most of it would probably have gone straight over his head.  
  
"He says he needs to square things with Paul first but he doesn't think it will be a problem. If it's OK then I think he should be here by the end of the week." Archie continued.  
  
As they reached the pub and stood at the entrance, they paused.  
  
"Now you won't leave me alone with a load of farmers discussing milk prices, will you?" Lexie demanded.  
  
Archie gave her one of his quizzical, slightly mocking, affectionate looks.  
  
"Not unless you leave me with the local plumber discussing drains.  
  
"Right then, deal?" Lexie questioned.  
  
"Deal." said Archie.  
  
They shook hands, turned, took a deep breath and entered the pub. 


	7. Part 7

LIFE AFTER GLENBOGLE PART 7 "Tonight was fun wasn't it" remarked Lexie as she climbed into bed and eased herself under Archie's arm, snuggling up to him. "mmm it was and lucky we were able to team up with Jill and Matt some of those questions were impossible, they seemed a great couple" "yes they were we must invite them over to supper soon, well when we have our gorgeous new table" said Lexie with enthusiasm Archie rolled his eyes smiling at her enthusiasm, unsure if it was for the table or Jill and Matt, "yes we must soon, but you know I'm not sure about Dan, can't put my finger on it, I know he is very much the jovial host, but there is something about him" remarked Archie "what do you mean?" Lexie asked "I'm not sure exactly, you know sometimes you just get an odd feeling about people" mused Archie They fell into an easy silence reflecting on the evenings events. Archie was mulling over a conversation he had with Dan at the bar, it started off easily enough but he felt that perhaps Dan's questions became a little too prying about money and also when he thought about it, about him and Lexie too, he felt uneasy. Lexie meanwhile was thinking how great it was to meet Jill and Matt, she missed to bustle of Glenbogle and being in the thick of things, yes it was wonderful being with Archie, but she was a people person and the prospect of friends in the village was wonderful, someone to have a girlie gossip with essential in any woman's life. "I tell you what though Arch, I think I may have had one white wine too many, hope I don't have too much of a hangover tomorrow" Lexie said reaching for her glass of water hoping prevention would be better than a cure in the morning. "No you better not, busy day ahead decorating, think we should get up early about 5.30" teased Archie "what" shrieked Lexie turning her head to look at Archie and check he was joking "Got ya" he said laughing Lexie punched him playfully "you know Arch just think in a couple of days time we'll be in our new bed, in our own house won't it be wonderful" she said smiling at him "mmm certainly will" replied Archie smiling "but Lex I know you wanted the decoration of the room to be a surprise, but if we are going to get it finished before the bed arrives, you might need to tell me so I can help" "oops" remarked Lexie realising she had completely forgotten to order the fabric and bed linen she wanted, it must be her first job tomorrow. Archie was admiring their handywork, the bedroom was now painted a soft apple white, although he was still not entirely sure what Lexie's decorative plans were, something to do with picking out the colours green, yellow and mauve from the tiles in the beautiful black Victorian fireplace. He suddenly spied the tin of raspberry paint destined for the bathroom, where they were to start next now the plumber had finished. He had a childish urge, lifting the lid on the raspberry paint, and grabbing a paintbrush, he swirled some raspberry paint on the newly painted white wall. "Archie what on earth have you done, have you gone completely mad" exclaimed Lexie on entering the room and seeing Archie's handywork. "Raspberry ripple my favourite ice cream when I was a child, sorry I couldn't resist" he said smiling beguilingly "but Archie how many coats of white will we have to paint to cover it up, you've probably ruined it, how could you?" Lexie said crossly Archie just continued to grin at her "you know you have no idea how gorgeous and irresistible you look, trying to be angry, a smudge of paint on your nose, your overalls way too big for you" "ARGH!!!" Lexie exclaimed trying desperately to keep a straight face as Archie gave her one of his smiles that just made her melt "I'll give you irresistible Archie Macdonald" she said as she attempted to attack him with her paintbrush, but Archie was too quick for her, grabbing her wrist before the brush made contact with him, and swiftly with his other arm grabbing her round the waist. He pulled her close, gave a gentle swipe at the smudge of paint on her nose and then began to kiss her, Lexie melted into him her arms going round his neck, which was followed by a clatter as her paintbrush hit the ground as her fingers skimmed over his neck into his hair. "I see some things never change" said a familiar voice "I looked all over this house for you two should have known I'd find you in here" said Duncan laughing "Dunc" shrieked Lexie breaking away from Archie to give him a welcoming hug "oh its so good to see you!" "sure is Dunc" added Archie as he went over to greet him "we had no idea you'd arrive so soon, how did you get here?" "Well no time like the present came down in the old land rover, left first thing this morning...what is that swirl of paint on the wall over there?" queried Duncan "don't ask" Laughed Lexie "lets just say it was Archie giving into his artistic urges! Come on I bet you could do with a cup of tea, lets go down to the kitchen then its work for you Dunc!" "Work I'm here for a holiday! Hey I have heaps of things for you Golly caught some salmon and trout for you and shot a few pheasants, Molly had another sort out of some of your things and Ewan baked a cake." Duncan told them excitedly "Well you boys unload the land rover and I'll make the tea and we can have some of Ewan's cake as well" Lexie said. Archie and Duncan ambled outside "so Dunc what's new, you know I can't believe you came all the way down here in this heap, I thought she'd died a death" commented Archie "No way, I'm very attached to this old heap, we've been through a lot together, remember I used to keep a mattress in the back" Duncan stated "yeah" laughed Archie "in case you got lucky at a rave" "well I never did" said Duncan somewhat dejectedly Archie looked at him, figuring his hunch about problems between him and Jess were right, now wasn't the time to discuss it, as Duncan's momentary gloom had been replaced as he excitedly began to unload the land rover. "So Dunc what's the gossip" asked Lexie as they all settled down to enjoy their tea and cake. "well Molly is fine and sends her love, Golly is Golly still the same, Paul is spending more and more time with Isobel and Ewan has been seeing a girl in the village Morag" and then he stopped, "and Jess" Lexie tentatively asked "oh yeah she's fine, so um what is this work you want me to do?" Archie and Lexie exchanged a look as Duncan quickly changed the subject, both realising there was more to this story, but Duncan was obviously not ready to talk. "Well" began Archie "tomorrow we have a bed arriving, and before then we have to get the bedroom ready. I am not privy to the intricate details of the decorative plan for the bedroom, Lex is keeping that a closely guarded secret but we need to sand and polish the floor today so it dries before tomorrow afternoon, so how about you and I start on that while Lex paints our bathroom raspberry" he gave Lexie a quizzical look he still wasn't convinced about her colour choice for the bathroom, but she said he would love it, in return Lexie smiled at him coquettishly blowing him a kiss. "Right then boss, oops you're not boss anymore, but lets get started" said Duncan. Archie and Duncan went off to start on the floor, Lexie remained in the kitchen sorting out the fish and game and some of the other goodies Duncan had brought with him. She wondered what was troubling him about Jess, something had obviously happened, oh well she thought I'm sure he'll tell us in his own good time. Her thoughts were broken by a knock at the door, it was Jill. "Hello come on in, excuse my appearance, decorating" said Lexie with a shrug Jill laughed "no problem hope you don't mind me popping in I was just passing and I was wondering if you and Archie would like to come round for supper on Friday, nothing grand just in the kitchen with a bottle of wine or two" "sounds wonderful we'd love too, I was only saying to Archie we must invite you round, but it is a bit chaotic here at the moment, look do you want a cuppa?" Lexie asked "oh go on, just a quick one" Jill replied "great I am supposed to be painting but a friend from back home has just arrived, so he and Archie are off doing things with a sander and I'm sorting out some of the goodies he brought with him" Lexie laughed "now don't let me keep you" said Jill "oh no you're not, well not really anyway I'm entitled to a break, and after our tea I'll show you round, it is a bit of a mess though" 


	8. Part 8

Part Eight  
  
Lexie insisted that Jill took half the trout away with her as there was far too much for their own needs. She left with Duncan's words ringing in her ears, telling her this was "the best trout she was ever likely to taste".  
  
For the next few hours the whole house shook as the sander was passed back and forth across the newly exposed floorboards in the bedroom. When the noise finally stopped a strange quiet fell upon the house. Duncan trudged down the stairs and into the kitchen. Lexie looked up from preparing the remainder of the trout for their tea to find herself looking at an apparition that could easily pass as a friendly house ghost.  
  
"Oh, ye poor wee man. I bet you wish you'd never come now," exclaimed Lexie, "Whatever has that husband of mine been doing to you?"  
  
"It's alright Lex. If you think I'm bad you should see Archie. He told me to come down as he's going to put the gloss on the floorboards now and I can't help much there. Anything I can do here?"  
  
"No thanks, Dunc. Not unless we want to contaminate the dinner with all that dust. You just sit down there and you can tell me all about what you've been up to lately."  
  
Realising Lexie was searching for information about Jess, which he would rather avoid, he decided to divert the conversation.  
  
"Oh, you know, nothing much. Nothing really changes at Glenbogle, it's you guys who are having the big adventure." He gazed round the kitchen, taking in the little nick nacks that Archie and Lexie had added to personalise it to their own taste.  
  
"You know Lex, this kitchen is great, but I think there is still one thing missing."  
  
Lexie looked slowly round the room but couldn't quite see what Duncan was getting at. "I know it's not completely finished but it looks OK to me. What are you talking about?"  
  
"Back in a minute. Wait here." Duncan called back to her as he headed outside to the land rover.  
  
Lexie shrugged and carried on with the preparations. She was never surprised at how Duncan's mind flitted from one topic to another. The only thing she had managed to gauge so far was that Jess was not on the agenda for discussion.  
  
Duncan returned rather sheepishly, obviously holding something behind his back. He grinned mischievously. "Close your eyes, Lex."  
  
"Oh come on then," she replied slightly impatiently whilst she obliged him by closing her eyes.  
  
"Hold out your hands. No peeking."  
  
Duncan pulled out an object from behind his back and gently laid it into her open hands. "OK you can look now."  
  
Lexie's eyes looked down at what now lay there.  
  
"Oh Duncan," Lexie laughed when she realised what it was.  
  
"Well you see I saw it in the cupboard the other day and thought that needs to be down with Lex."  
  
In her hands she now held her old mug. The same one that had lived through many a traumatic moment at Glenbogle. On the side it still clearly read 'Lexie'.  
  
"Oh that's lovely Dunc. So sweet of you. Thank you." Lexie wrapped her arms around him and gave him a warm hug and a peck on the cheek.  
  
Duncan came over all bashful. "Well I know how fond of it you were. I expect tea doesn't taste the same out of anything else."  
  
As Lexie quietly got on with the meal while Duncan went to shower, she couldn't help glancing across at the mug and remembering the times she had been sitting at that big table in the Glenbogle kitchen drinking out of it, usually early in the morning or late at night. Mostly she was reflecting on some major event or trauma that was happening in the house at the time. Then of course, she smiled to herself, there was the time Molly had read her tea leaves. Neither of them had given much credence to her predictions but in fact she had been spot on ... eventually.  
  
Duncan nearly fell asleep during dinner and, at their suggestion, took his camp bed and sleeping bag off to one of the smaller bedrooms. It was only a few minutes before he became reacquainted with the land of nod.  
  
The new mattress for their bed had arrived earlier in the day and been left in the room they intended to use as the guest room. It had seemed silly to head back to the cottage at such a late hour so it wasn't long before Lexie grabbed hold of the blanket from the car and headed upstairs herself. She paused in the doorway to their bedroom to inspect their beautiful new floor. Archie explained to her that he was staying up for a little while longer to finish the gloss on the floor but would soon join her. She gave him an affectionate kiss and drifted off to bed.  
  
"Don't be too long. I get cold on my own," she called back to him.  
  
She fell asleep quickly but was rather restless in the unfamiliar environment. As she tossed and turned she reached out naturally to feel for the comfort of Archie's familiar presence. Her hand groped around in the vacant space beside her. She stirred and opened her eyes. Curious as to Archie's absence, she picked up the blanket, wrapped it round herself and sleepily went to investigate the new bedroom. The light was still on.  
  
Lexie couldn't help it. She had to laugh at the sight before her.  
  
Archie was curled up in a foetal position against the far corner of the room. His head had flopped forward on his chest and his eyes were shut.  
  
"Oh Archie," Lexie said, half to her sleeping husband and half to herself. How on earth he had managed to fall asleep like that she couldn't imagine.  
  
Venturing across the now dry floor, she bent down to Archie and planted the softest of kisses on his forehead. "Wake up sleeping beauty." she whispered, giving him a gentle nudge.  
  
Archie stirred with an uncomfortable grunt.  
  
"So?" asked Lexie.  
  
"Hmmmm?" he murmured sleepily.  
  
"So why are you sleeping here?" quizzed Lexie.  
  
"Well," mused Archie, rubbing his shoulder, "I think I may have made a slight error with my floor gloss technique."  
  
Archie continued. "I started painting the gloss from the doorway and then I found I was stuck in the corner and I didn't want to mess up the floor so I decided to wait until it dried."  
  
"Oh, my poor wee husband," Lexie responded sympathetically.  
  
"Dafty, you must be very tired to make a mistake like that." Lexie smiled as she took over massaging his shoulder.  
  
"I know, I know," replied Archie "I suppose I must have been more tired than I thought."  
  
"Come on you," Lexie said, pulling him sleepily to his feet, "You look exhausted. Duncan went to bed hours ago."  
  
They wearily made their way to bed. Lexie flopped sleepily on to the mattress and pulled the covers tightly round her as she watched Archie struggling to remove his shoes..  
  
"I definitely think there's something up with Duncan and my money's on Jess," Archie commented as the laces finally yielded.  
  
"Hmm," responded Lexie, "I did try before dinner to ask him but he just changed the subject."  
  
"I suppose he'll tell us when he's good and ready," responded Archie as the cold night air drove him under the bedcover to snuggle up to Lexie.  
  
"That's better; I'm getting a bit warmer now," Lexie smiled contentedly as Archie wrapped his arms round her.  
  
"You know Lex, this decorating lark is very hard work. Every time one problem is solved the next seems to appear. I mean, after all, we still have the dining and living rooms to paint and three more bedrooms and we still haven't decided on the colours, have we? I was thinking earlier, what about green for the guest bedroom? Hmm? What do you think?"  
  
There was no response from Lexie. He looked across at her and smiled to himself.  
  
"Oh dear, don't think I'll talk about decorating in bed again if that's the effect it has."  
  
What Archie and Lexie were both unaware of was that in the next room Duncan was wide awake and in a reflective mood.  
  
The truth of it was Duncan wanted more from his relationship with Jess than she was willing to give. He was ready for marriage and, in a few years, kids. Jess, however, probably due to being younger, was still up for nothing serious. Seeing Archie and Lexie emphasised it even more. He wanted someone who would care about him as much as those two did about each other.  
  
If Duncan was honest with himself, it wasn't just his love life that he was questioning at the moment, but his whole situation at Glenbogle. It was sometimes like being in a goldfish bowl and he was beginning to feel he'd outgrown it. So many changes had occurred around him over the last few years, but he sometimes felt he was 'Good old Dunc' who got left behind.  
  
The question that Duncan was considering now was whether to talk to anyone about this. Archie and Lexie were two of his closest friends but he wasn't sure Lexie would quite understand the way he was feeling. After all, she never seemed to have been claustrophobic at Glenbogle. However, she was obviously very happy now so change hadn't been bad for her. Thinking more about it, Duncan realised that Archie would probably be the best person to talk to, seeing as he had made the break in the first place. It certainly agreed with him. Duncan hadn't failed to notice how much happier, relaxed and laid back he had become.  
  
"Hmm, well, if I get the opportunity, or he asks, I'll confess," mused Duncan.  
  
The next morning nobody was anxious to be first up and the house remained quiet until a large van pulled up outside and a loud knock disrupted the peace.  
  
"Archie," Lexie said, shaking her husband awake, "Archie, it's the delivery of the furniture. Archie!  
  
Archie stirred himself and made a grab for his overalls, which he attempted to put on while moving for the door. Duncan met Archie on the landing in his nightshirt and they both made their way down the stairs.  
  
Twenty minutes later Lexie appeared in the hall to find Archie and Duncan moaning loudly about how heavy the furniture looked and how a camp bed and a mattress on the floor were clearly not meant for sleeping on, they both had ailments to complain about.  
  
"Well, I'll see you later. I'm off to shop for curtains, bedspreads and lots of other gorgeous things," Lexie gloated. With a spring in her step and a cheeky smile on her face she made for the front gate. "I expect all this will be in the house by the time I get back," she hinted heavily.  
  
Archie rolled his eyes at Duncan.  
  
"Hmm, do I detect a slight hint of disgruntlement amongst the workers this morning?" she tested.  
  
"Possibly," Duncan replied, carefully.  
  
"Whatever gave you that impression?" responded Archie as he laid back comfortably on the bed that now reposed in the front garden.  
  
Lexie raised her eyes heavenward. "Oh well, seeing as you're going to be working so hard I'll call in for some lunch from the farm shop on my way back. See you later boys."  
  
Archie and Duncan began by carrying the dining table and chairs inside without too much bother. The dresser was a bit difficult to manoeuvre but wasn't too bad once they got through the stable door. Things had clearly gone too well. They began to negotiate a heavy bedside table up the stairs and were in the middle of discussing the problem when Duncan absentmindedly let go of his end so that he could better illustrate his ideas to Archie.  
  
Archie was not watching Duncan carefully enough. He was totally unprepared for taking the full weight of the table. It fell to his right and as Archie lunged to try and rescue it, it crashed into the banisters. There was a nasty splintering sound and half the banister gave way and fell to the ground. Archie might have followed but Duncan managed to grab him at the last second and pull him safely back onto the stairs. There was a pause as Archie looked at Duncan and Duncan looked back at Archie.  
  
"Well, that's a bit of a mess, eh, Arch? I think you need to keep your mind on the job," said Duncan, innocently smiling. He seemed to completely miss Archie's look of exasperation.  
  
"Hi, I'm back," called Lexie, as she walked into the hall from the kitchen. "So how's it all ......" She stopped when she spotted the mess. "Oh, dear, what happened?" she questioned.  
  
Just as Archie was about to open his mouth to explain Duncan leapt in.  
  
"Oh, well, you see Lex. We were moving the bedside table upstairs and Archie ... well he accidentally let go of it. Now don't be too hard on him Lex. He's probably still tired from yesterday."  
  
Archie's mouth was opening and closing like a goldfish in disbelief at Duncan's explanation.  
  
"Arch, you know perhaps you should have a break for lunch now," replied Lexie, who had already spotted the indignation in Archie's face and thought it best to defuse the situation by gentling nudging him towards the kitchen.  
  
Lexie was in a really good mood, having had an excellent shopping trip, and the simple problem of a half broken banister was not about to change that.  
  
After lunch they all ventured into the garden and stood gazing at the bed.  
  
"And how were you intending to get that up the stairs?" Lexie enquired.  
  
"It is a little big isn't it," ventured Archie, who was finding the prospect of sleeping under the stars that night a more appealing prospect than managing the bed upstairs.  
  
Duncan looked from Archie to Lexie and back again, but neither of them seemed to have any enlightenment. He began to realise that unless someone acted they would be there all day.  
  
"Och, it's easy. I used to do this sort of thing for my Auntie Liz all the time in the B & B. Bring the tool kit from the kitchen Lex and Archie can you go and get the ladder from round the back?"  
  
"Ladder? Whatever do you want that for?" Lexie enquired.  
  
"It's obvious isn't it? It won't go up the stairs, even if we unscrew it. What you have to do is take it through the window of course."  
  
For once Duncan was in charge. He had clearly done this sort of thing before. He took the bed apart and when all the smaller pieces had gone up the stairs, organized hauling the main frame up on a rope and through the window. It was awkward but not half as bad as they had feared. When it was all back together, and the new mattress placed on top, it really did look rather inviting so all three found themselves lying flat out staring at the ceiling.  
  
"You know Dunc, if you ever want to take up a new career as a removal man, I could  
  
give you an excellent reference," commented Archie.  
  
"I might take you up on that," answered Duncan.  
  
Lexie continued to concentrate on the ceiling. "Arch? That's not a damp patch up there, is it? 


	9. Part 9

PART NINE "oh Arch don't go" said Lexie pleadingly as she wound herself tighter round him, Archie tried to extricate himself unsuccessfully "but Lex there is decorating to be done and I need to sort out the water tank and paint over the patch on the ceiling" "I know but I don't want our first night, in our new bed in our lovely new home to end" she said smiling at him, as she attempted to run her fingers through his hair, only to meet a rather stubborn patch of paint "mmm it was wonderful" Archie said smiling as he looked into her eyes and kissed her "but Lex, I hate to point out the obvious but um the night is over and it is now morning!" Lexie hit him on the arm "oh alright spoilsport, go if you must don't worry about me!" "you know Lex, now it is daylight I can see properly, what you have done to this room is just amazing, simple but perfect!" "see I told you" she said, as they both looked around the room, the black wrought iron curtain rail with the long white curtains, with a delicate pattern of yellow and mauve flowers with matching bed linen, the cushions on the deep sill creating a window seat and the tall vase of lilies on the hearth. There was still some furniture needed but they could build that up gradually. Reluctantly Lexie let Archie go, she was half lost in thought and half watching him with a contented expression on her face, he turned and said "what?", smiling she said "nothing just thinking and wondering!" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------- "Dunc are you sure you are going to be alright" Lexie asked "Lex there is beer in the fridge, a pizza in the aga, not to mention goodness knows how many pot noodles and packets of chocolate hob nobs in the cupboard, now go Archie is waiting for you!" "ok, ok" she said dropping a kiss on his head, "Arch have you got the wine?" Lexie called out "yes" he called back "you just need to grab the flowers"..  
  
Lexie caught up with Archie outside, linked arms with him as they walked to Jill and Matt's house. Archie turned and smiled at Lexie "happy?" he asked "mmmm" was her response "Lex you've been in a dreamworld most of today, care to share?" "Sorry Arch, what were you saying? Oh yes very happy, I really like Banbridge and its wonderful to have made friends and our home is just well home really if perhaps a little empty!" "mmm" agreed Archie "but we have Duncan staying and we'll have other guests too" "Arch that wasn't exactly what I was thinking!" said Lexie laughing Archie didn't have a chance to respond as they had reached Jill and Matt's house and they were suddenly face to face with an elderly lady striding purposefully down the garden path "sorry no time to stop, I've got to get to the bus stop pensioners outing to the bingo and ten pin bowling in Mayfield" and with that she strode off Archie and Lexie looked at each other not quite sure what to make of it, when the front door opened and Matt appeared, he took one look at their surprised faces and said "I see you've just met Jill's Mum, Mary, completely mad but wonderful especially with Emily, come on in. Jill's just putting Emily to bed." He took their coats and gifts and ushered them into the sitting room, when Jill appeared "I was just putting Ems to bed, but she insisted on coming downstairs to meet Mummy and Daddy's new friends" she said rolling her eyes, beside her was a blonde haired little girl dressed for bed, holding onto a teddy bear. "hello Emily I'm Lexie and this is Archie, what is your bear called he's lovely?" Emily eyed her nervously, but then responded with a smile "Edward" she said, "that is a great name for a bear, do you know Archie has a bear he has had since he was as little as you, so its very very old now, maybe one day when you come to our house you and Edward bear can meet him" Lexie replied. Emily smiled and nodded in agreement. "come on Ems time you were tucked in and fast asleep say goodnight to everyone" Jill told her Conversation flowed around the table as Jill and Matt filled Archie and Lexie in on village gossip and village life in general. "so what made you decide to run a catering business" Matt asked "well I ran a restaurant for a while several years ago in London and Lex has catering experience so it seemed the ideal business venture" Archie replied "oh no here I am inviting you to a simple kitchen supper" said Jill "don't be daft it was delicious" Lexie assured her "so what catering did you do Lexie" asked Matt, at which she burst into laughter "Arch, you should never have put it like that" Lexie said despairingly, Archie grinned in response "well Matt, I was housekeeper and cook for a family on their highland estate" Lexie explained "hang on a minute, there must be more to this" said Jill "if Archie was in London running a restaurant and you were in the highlands Lex, then how on earth did you two meet and how come you ended up in Banbridge, judging by the expressions on your faces I smell a story and a good one at that!" Archie and Lexie looked at each other and laughed "ok" said Archie "it was my family's estate where Lexie worked, I had to come home to run the estate and left London. My father had badly managed the estate, it was my inheritance and I had to sort it out, that was about 6 years ago, it was a complete nightmare but there was one very special saving grace, Lexie." "Oh Arch you make it sound so simple! Jill it was anything but simple, you ask Duncan he's the head ranger on the estate, it took him forever to realise I was the shining light and saving grace and not just his friend good old dependable Lexie, there was the girlfriend in London, the village school teacher, the banks account manager, it was a complete nightmare!" Jill and Matt laughed, "Lexie when we have our next girly get together you can fill in the blanks" said Jill, Lexie nodded in agreement. "so who is running the estate now" asked Matt "my half brother Paul" replied Archie "another long story, the details of which I won't bore you with now!" "so" said Lexie to Jill and Matt "how did you two meet?" "No where near as interesting as how you two met" said Jill "oh I don't know" said Matt winking at Jill "oh yes, tell us more" said Lexie "Well it was my first job straight from studying, almost like an apprenticeship at a architectural firm that specialised in school buildings. We were commissioned to build an extension for a school in Newcastle" Matt began "anyway, one morning I had to visit the site for an inspection and it had been raining in the night and building sites can get very muddy" Matt began to explain "go on" said Lexie as she noticed that Jill was trying hard to suppress a laugh "well, I slipped and fell face down in the mud, I was covered from head to foot, I could hardly see a thing, I managed to make my way into the school to see if I could find somewhere to try and clean up a bit, the first person I saw was Jill who tried to be sympathetic but just fell about laughing" continued Matt "women eh no good in a crisis" said Archie to Matt "what" shrieked Lexie "just you wait Archie Macdonald making comments like that, so what happened next?" "Well once he cleaned off some of the mud" said Jill "I saw he was actually rather nice and I did feel sorry for him, and felt a bit guilty for laughing so I made him a coffee, he asked me out for a drink and the rest as they say is history! " Archie and Lexie laughed as Matt added "I had hoped that by asking her out she might not tell everyone about my fall in the mud, but no such luck!" "sorry love but it was too good a story not to share!" Jill said "now would anyone like anymore coffee or liqueur?" "No thanks its been a wonderful evening, looking at the time we really should make a move eh Arch?" "Oh Lexie before you go, I meant to mention the village May Fayre, its an annual event, stalls, competitions, entertainment Morris dancers and the children always do May Pole dancing, and barbecue in the evening, would you like to come with me next Tuesday I think it is, there is a meeting about it?" before Lexie had a chance to respond, Matt added "I see Jill you have omitted to mention the wicked witch of the west?! " "wicked witch of the west?" Lexie asked "oh take no notice of Matt, he's referring to Margaret Mason the village busybody, she is nosey and interfering but she does get a lot done in the village" Jill replied "yes I'll come along, I'm intrigued, she can't be that bad?" "that's what you think Lexie" Matt said "hey Archie while these two are doing good works, how about you and I flex our muscles down at the pub quiz again on Tuesday?" "sounds good to me Matt, that pub will be like a second home soon, if we are going tomorrow as well!" 


	10. Part 10

Part Ten  
  
"Come on boys, where are you?" Lexie muttered impatiently under her breath as she put on her earrings and did a final check of her appearance in the mirror.  
  
It was twenty to eight on the Saturday evening and, having already arranged to meet Matt and Jill at the pub at eight, unless she left now she'd be late. Grabbing the pad by the phone, she scribbled a note  
  
"Gone ahead. Meet you there, Lex, xx"  
  
"Oh wonderful!" she exclaimed as she opened the front door.  
  
It was raining heavily and as Archie had the car she was going to have to make a run for it. Umbrella at the ready, she hurried out of the house and through the garden gate.  
  
Fifteen minutes later and a rather cold and shivering Lexie arrived at the pub.  
  
"Evening there" replied Dan, "Nice weather eh?" he joked, whilst taking in Lexie's dishevelled appearance.  
  
"Hm, maybe for the ducks." Lexie smiled.  
  
"So what will the lady be having to drink?"  
  
"Er, a white wine please."  
  
"Coming right up"  
  
Lexie rummaged in her bag for her phone. One new message.  
  
'b a bit late mum not in yet c u later Jill' she read.  
  
"All on your own this evening?" Dan queried as he rested the drink down on the bar in front of Lexie, making her jump a little as she fished around for her purse.  
  
"Yes I've been stood up," Lexie said in mock distress. "No, they're all on their way, just running late."  
  
"Shame, and there was me thinking I'd have some company for the rest of the evening," mused Dan, leaning heavily on the bar in Lexie's direction. Lexie suddenly felt slightly uncomfortable.  
  
"So, how's the business coming together?" said Dan changing the subject.  
  
Glad of the change of topic Lexie responded. "Oh we're getting there, the fitters are in next week for the industrial kitchen and then of course we have to get a final inspection on it but, yeah, it's all coming together. We've still got quite a bit to do in the house though."  
  
Dan wandered off to serve someone on the other side of the bar but returned a few minutes later looking rather smug.  
  
"I've just had a brainwave. Why don't you have a publicity event here in the pub? You know the sort of thing. You could have an evening where people get to try the food for free and you could hand out a few flyers. It would certainly get the word around wouldn't it?"  
  
"That sounds like a fantastic idea." Lexie clasped her hands together in excitement. "I'll see what Arch makes of it when he's in later," she said, patting Dan gratefully on the arm.  
  
"My pleasure" said Dan. He smiled and rested his hand on hers.  
  
Lexie was aware that Dan's hand had continued to rest on hers for what was now becoming an uncomfortable length of time. She no longer felt at ease and removed her hand to reach for her glass.  
  
Dan wandered off quickly to the other end of the bar. Perhaps she was putting two and two together and coming up with five. But what Dan had just done had unsettled her. It did not feel friendly or natural. It had felt forceful and predatory like he was trying to imply that he had an alternative agenda.  
  
She was awoken from these thoughts with a jump as some arms settled round her shoulders in an embrace that was anything but unfamiliar.  
  
"Arrh, I'm sorry sweetheart we got held up at the DIY store and the reception on the phone was non existent," Archie apologised, kissing her on the head. "You haven't been lonely have you?"  
  
Dan, who had been polishing glasses while eavesdropping, interrupted, "Oh I've been keeping her entertained, don't you worry."  
  
Archie didn't notice the intense look Dan was aiming in Lexie's direction.  
  
"Duncan's got us a table over there. I'll get the drinks in."  
  
Lexie spotted Jill and Matt arriving and was grateful of an excuse to leave Dan's presence. She was also desperate to introduce them to Duncan.  
  
"You know you really shouldn't leave a pretty girl like that to drink on her own," Dan suggested casually to Archie.  
  
Archie decided to take the comment lightly, even though he wasn't entirely sure Dan had meant it that way.  
  
"No, your right, I shouldn't leave my wife on her own but, if you haven't realised already, Lexie is a very independent woman."  
  
With that Archie picked up the drinks and went to join the others at the table  
  
The evening progressed happily with Jill and Matt warming to Duncan instantly. Jill was most intrigued by Duncan's kilt. Especially when he revealed that, yes, indeed, he was a true Scotsman.  
  
"Really, doesn't it get a bit cold?" she giggled  
  
"Ach no, but I tell you the midges can be a bit of a nuisance," he replied cheerily.  
  
As the evening continued Lexie became more and more aware of how happy Jill and Matt were this evening. Both looked like they had won the lottery. They kept exchanging knowing glances, which Lexie was trying to read without feeling intrusive. She had her suspicions but waited until the opportune moment arrived before acting on them.  
  
"So, how come you're not drinking this evening?" Lexie quizzed, giving Jill a friendly nudge.  
  
Jill paused as if considering her response. "Oh all right you got me, but you're not to tell anyone." She smiled.  
  
"We've only just found out for certain and Matt said we shouldn't tell you yet but I'm just so happy that I need to tell someone. Anything can happen in the first few months so I don't want to say too much in case I jinx it."  
  
"Oh that's wonderful," Lexie said, giving her a subtle squeeze so as not to alert Matt or Archie, who were deep in conversation, to the news she had just been told.  
  
Duncan meanwhile was making friends with Lucy the girl who worked behind the bar.  
  
"So are you down here for long" she said enquiring  
  
"Oh no, only for a week or so then its back to the Highlands" he smiled.  
  
"Well, if you want me to show you around while you're here I'd be happy to"  
  
Duncan was just about to say that Archie and Lexie would be doing that when he thought better of it.  
  
"You know what? That would be great, just great," he said collecting the drinks, as she gave him a winning smile.  
  
Back at the table Matt had moved on to discuss land matters.  
  
"So what about this estate place your family run? Have they had it long?"  
  
Archie hesitated before replying. "Well it's been in the family a while I suppose."  
  
"Quite a few years then" responded Matt.  
  
Duncan was just in the process of handing out the drinks and gave a quick snort and a chuckle.  
  
"Quite a few hundred, eh, Arch?"  
  
"Wow, that's a really long time," Matt joked light heartedly "what sort of a place is this then, a castle?"  
  
There was silence around the table as Archie and Lexie struggled to come up with an answer.  
  
They had agreed not to let on too much about Glenbogle just yet. Although they had warmed to  
  
Jill and Matt instantly it wasn't exactly easy to drop into conversation that you owned a thirty five thousand acre estate and had been the fourteenth chieftain of the Clan MacDonald.  
  
Matt could feel the sudden suspense in the air. "Oh, right. Do I take it I have just stuck my great big foot in it and it is a castle."  
  
"Well not exactly a castle," protested Archie "It's called Glenbogle House."  
  
"Might as well be called a castle" contributed Duncan. "It certainly looks like a castle. It's big and old and it's got turrets everywhere. And its got a great long drive up to it and a gatehouse and a loch and a beach and ...." His voice trailed off as he caught Lexie's eye. She was frowning at him and he sensed it was best not to continue.  
  
"No, it's all right Lex" Archie said turning to give a reassuring smile in Duncan's direction. Before he told Jill and Matt the whole story.  
  
"Well, it sounds like a beautiful place" Matt enthused after Archie had finished.  
  
"Yes it does and I can fully understand why you didn't want to tell us about it straight away. Not something you can casually introduce is it?" Jill reassured them.  
  
The air having lightened, the chat turned to a house that Matt was currently designing where the owners were insisting on every computer- assisted gadget going.  
  
"Boys and their toys huh," Lexie said, raising her eyebrows as the conversation become less and less appealing to her.  
  
"Oh it's ridiculous isn't it? Matt has such an obsession for anything gadget wise. You know I'm sure he's more interested in Emily's electronic toys than she is. Still if this one turns out to be a boy then at least he'll have someone to play with."  
  
They both laughed.  
  
"So what about you and Archie? Thinking of expanding the family anytime soon?"  
  
"I don't think so, not at the moment," Lexie replied, a little too quickly. Jill sensed that there might be issues here and tried to repair the damage.  
  
"Is it Archie?" Jill prompted, "Because Matt was just the same before we had Emily. You know. Thought our lives were going to change into chaos and things would never be the same again. But as soon as we knew about Emily he was over the moon and when she was born I had to fight to get a look in. Completely smitten he was."  
  
Jill smiled as she recalled the image.  
  
"No no it's not Archie. If it was up to him we'd be on our way to a football team by now." Lexie looked across at Archie and smiled. "No, it's me who's put the brakes on. It's not that I don't want kids, because I do, very much. And a big part of me is going 'oh just go for it' but then there's this nagging doubt."  
  
Although Jill had touched on a subject that had always been something of a raw nerve for her, Lexie realised that perhaps this would be an excellent opportunity to share some of her thoughts and fears. She sat back in the booth and made herself more comfortable as she prepared to admit her misgivings on the subject.  
  
"I didn't exactly have the best of childhoods, my dad left when I was still quite young and my mum at times made it pretty clear my presence was unwelcome. I guess if I'm honest......... I'm scared. I want to do the best job I can and I don't ever want to resent my child being around like she did to me."  
  
"And anyway, now is not the right time to have a baby. We're only just getting the business up and running and..." Lexie stalled, trying to find another excuse.  
  
"Hmm you know what? You surprise me with that confession. You seem so confident about most things."  
  
Jill paused to search for the right words.  
  
"Well, first of all Lex, you have to remember you are not your mother and you're not on your own. You have a husband who, from what I've seen, loves you to bits and would give you the stars if he could. And don't you think everyone's scared before they have a child? I know I was terrified."  
  
"Were you?" Lexie questioned.  
  
"Oh god, yes, and when I had Emily it was hardly the best of timing but you just work around it. Lexie, I don't think you have anything to worry about. I think you and Archie will make fantastic parents when you think the timing's right. Really I do. You just need to have the same faith in your abilities that Archie obviously has. All right, I know I've probably said too much. I'll get off my soapbox now."  
  
Lexie smiled. "No you haven't said too much. Only things that I probably needed to hear anyway."  
  
As the conversation drifted on to other topics, Lexie remained thoughtful. 


	11. Part 11

PART 11 There was an air of expectancy in the kitchen, Duncan was preparing supper and Archie and Lexie poured over wallpaper sample books and paint charts. They were trying to make the final decision over the sitting room, dining room, family bathroom, and the three remaining bedrooms. So far they had decided on a pale blue for the bathroom, and had decided to keep the three bedrooms fairly neutral for the time being and liven them up with the curtains and bed linen. It was the downstairs that was proving tricky. "mmmm I'm not sure Lex, perhaps the lilac would be better for the dining room as it would compliment the wood of the table and chairs, I'm just not convinced about the mint green" "I think you are right Arch, that lilac is restful yet interesting I think it would make a great backdrop for dinner parties" Lexie agreed Archie smiled at her "backdrop for dinner parties eh?" he teased her, just then there was a loud clatter from the aga, Duncan quickly turned around and said "nothing to worry about just a slight hiccough in the supper preparation" Archie raised his eyebrows at him "you sure Dunc?" as he got up to walk over to the aga. Lexie put out her hand to stop him, she gave him a look which said leave Duncan be, and he sat down again. "well something smells wonderful" said Lexie smiling at Duncan "mm who'd like a drink?" she asked as she wandered over to the fridge. She poured herself a glass of wine and got out a bottle of beer each for Archie and Duncan. As she sat back down again Archie said "now what about the junk room?" He was referring to a small room just off the hallway next to the kitchen. Lexie had in one of her wistful moments envisioned it as a playroom, but somehow she felt nervous about airing this idea to Archie, but after her conversation with Jill, she knew it was something she and Archie had to talk about. Just as she was about to make the suggestion to Archie, Duncan appeared at her side, waving a plate under her nose "compliments of the chef" he said placing a plate of slightly burnt sausages, mashed potato and baked beans in front of her. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------ "Well at least it wasn't pot noodle" Archie commented later as he and Lexie got ready to go out "no very true" laughed Lexie "and lets face it we're all used to burnt offerings! I remember your Dad and his penchant for my burnt toast. Oh look at the time I must dash or I'll be late for the meeting, enjoy the quiz" Lexie said as she gave Archie a quick kiss goodbye "you too have fun at the meeting" he called as she dashed downstairs. Matt bumped into Archie and Duncan as they arrived at the pub "so how are the old brain cells tonight then?" Matt asked them as they entered the pub "great fully functional" said Duncan, who was hoping Lucy would be working that night. He was a little disappointed as he entered the pub to see she wasn't behind the bar. They found a table and Archie went off to get the drinks "Evening Archie how are you?" "Fine thanks Dan, and yourself" "Not bad, no Lexie this evening?" he asked "No she and Jill have gone to the meeting about the May Fayre, three pints please Dan" "oh what a pity, always a pleasure where Lexie is concerned" he said winking at Archie Archie completely stunned by what Dan had said, decided to ignore him and walked back to the table with the drinks. Lexie met Jill as arranged by the village green and they arrived at the village hall just as the meeting was about to start, "so is that Margaret Mason village busybody then" Lexie asked Jill referring to the woman standing at the front of the hall about to start the meeting. "Yes" replied Jill in a whisper "she's alright really, but she's bound to home in on you being as you're new!" "great" Lexie whispered back "Good evening everyone and welcome, thank you very much for coming to this meeting. I think we all know each other apart from" Margaret Mason said looking questioningly at Lexie. "This is Lexie Macdonald, she and her husband Archie have just moved into the old Farm at the south end of the village" Jill explained "Thank you Jill and welcome Lexie" said Margaret "Hello" said Lexie, she then turned to Jill "good grief its like being back at school very scary!" As the meeting drew to a close, Margaret ran through what everyone had agreed to do "....................and Jill Langley will organise the school children to do Maypole dancing, also she and Lexie Macdonald will run the cake stall and Matt Langley and Archie Macdonald will organise the pig roast, barbecue and beer tent......................." As Margaret continued Jill turned to Lexie "I wonder what they boys will say when they hear what we have roped them in for!" "mmm I'm sure they'll moan at first, but secretly will be delighted" Lexie laughed ".............So thank you very much everyone and don't forget the competition classes for baking and flower arranging" Margaret concluded Jill urged Lexie to make a quick exit to the pub before they got cornered by Margaret, and Lexie was subjected to the Spanish inquisition. The pub was still pretty busy after the quiz, Lexie and Jill soon spotted the boys at a table in the corner. "so did you win?" asked Lexie, as she and Jill looked for somewhere to sit, options were limited, Jill found a stool and Lexie ended up sideways on Archie's lap, with her arm round his neck to keep her balance. "no we didn't" replied Matt smirking "so how was the meeting?" Jill and Lexie exchanged a look and grinned at each other "what?" asked Archie and Matt together "well" began Lexie "they are going to have a spit roast and barbecue at the end of the day and well we kind of volunteered you three to roast the spit and do your barbecue thing" "what me too" asked Duncan incredulously "yes you too wee man if you're still here" replied Lexie "you know you've always wanted to be some kind of medieval squire at a pig roast" Jill said to Matt smiling, mmm he responded "hang on a minute what's this medieval bit" Archie asked looking slightly concerned Lexie turned to face Archie "well darling we suggested it would be fun if you dressed up" she said coquettishly running her fingers through his hair "ooo go on you'll love it and if you do I might dress up too as a serving wench!" Archie began to smile as she kissed him fleetingly Matt began to laugh "honestly you two, like a couple of newlyweds!" "they always been like this?" he asked Duncan "yeah pretty much "affirmed Duncan "even before they were together you never knew quite what was going on and of course there was that time...." "Duncan!" Archie and Lexie said together before he could continue unsure exactly what he was about to divulge. Dan had been watching their table with interest after Jill and Lexie arrived, he came over to them "everything alright here" he asked his gaze landing on Lexie "ooo just the man I wanted" she said "oh yes?!" he responded suggestively, Archie moved a little uncomfortably and Jill and Matt became aware of something in the air "well Jill and I have just been at the meeting about the organisation of the May Fayre and we need a beer tent, any chance you could help sort out the beer kegs?" Lexie asked "anything for you darling" he replied lasciviously Lexie smiled at him "well Matt, Archie and Duncan are responsible for the spit roast and barbecue so I suggest you boys sort it out together" "no problem" Dan responded his enthusiasm waning a little One up for me thought Lexie she could read Dan, her suspicions from Saturday confirmed. She'd experienced this before, she knew what was going through his mind, yes she could handle it but she was a little tired of men and their unwanted advances and suggestive comments, she had perhaps naively assumed it would stop once she married Archie, it brought back memories of when she was much younger. There was though something else about Dan that made her feel particularly uneasy, she just couldn't work out what it was exactly. She suddenly became aware that as she had been lost in thought her grip around Archie's neck had tightened and he was looking at her expectantly, she smiled and hugged him whispering she loved him in his ear and asking to go home. Archie had sensed too what was happening with Dan, his suspicions had been aroused earlier and he had begun to wonder on Saturday, he could also feel the affect it was having on Lexie, she didn't let it show but he knew from the way her arm tightened around his neck and the hug she had given him. His mind went back to the day a few years ago, when she had first told him about her mother's boyfriend and moving out of home as a consequence - they had talked about it several times since - but he wished he could make the memories and the feelings go away for her. He'd watch Dan carefully that was a certainty, he could see things possibly becoming tricky as he had offered them use of the pub's function room next weekend for the marketing event for the business, but no matter what, Lexie came first. Around them Matt, Jill and Duncan were engaged in a lively debate about exactly what the medieval fancy dress would be, Archie took hold of Lexie's hand "come along sweetheart" "we're off he said to the others, you coming Dunc or staying for another pint?" "think I'll stay, guess I'll see you tomorrow ready with my paintbrush, night" Archie and Lexie said goodnight to Jill and Matt and left the pub, Duncan went to the bar to get another round. Jill looked at Matt "I'm beginning to think those rumours that circulated the village about Dan last year are true, I thought they were just gossip but.................." "mmmm" agreed Matt "I know what you mean, I had always wondered about him nothing I could put my finger on though. I think Lexie handled it well, but all the same not pleasant for her." 


	12. Part 12

Part Twelve  
  
"So what do you think?" Archie asked impatiently, "better than the last one? Do you think it needs more flavour? A touch more pepper perhaps?" He continued to look from Lexie to Duncan for a response. "So...?"  
  
There was a slight trepidation in the air as Lexie and Duncan both tried to gauge the other's reply. Archie had spent the afternoon experimenting with ideas for the catering business and Lexie and Duncan had been the taste testers.  
  
"Well Arch, I think it tastes just the same as the last sauce," Duncan responded.  
  
Lexie, having realised this was the last thing her husband wanted to hear, replied, "Er, I think I liked the one before better. It had a bit more kick to it."  
  
"Was that the tomato and basil or the tomato and mixed herbs?" Archie enquired.  
  
Thankfully, before Lexie had time to answer that she hadn't any idea which one it was, there was a knock at the door.  
  
"I'll go," she called, already half way to the door.  
  
"Hello Lexie," Matt said cheerfully, "I'm just dropping these magazines Archie was interested in. You know, the ones about converting outbuildings."  
  
"Thanks Matt. Now, you will come in and join us for a cup of tea, won't you?"  
  
"Oh best not. I've got Em in the car."  
  
"Well bring her in too you dafty," Lexie smiled. "Anyway, you'd be doing me and Duncan a big favour. Archie's been using us as guinea pigs all afternoon. He's trying out some recipes and a new set of taste buds would be very useful right now."  
  
"How can I refuse when the alternative is fish fingers," Matt laughed, "Jill's on a teaching course today and won't be back till late."  
  
Matt brought Emily in from the car and added a few of his own impressions before Archie finally finished with his culinary workshop. The afternoon continued in a more leisurely fashion with Lexie and Archie explaining their plans for the garden to Matt, whose brother and father it turned out were landscape gardeners. 'Useful' thought Archie and Lexie, making a mental note.  
  
Meanwhile Duncan was showing an excited Emily the chickens, while doing a very realistic clucking noise at the same time. This only encouraged Emily to laugh hysterically and tell him to do it again repeatedly. Which he was very happy to do – often!  
  
As the afternoon progressed, it became clear that Emily was actually not the quiet and shy child she had first appeared. Once she got to know people she could be immensely talkative.  
  
"Em, Lexie?"  
  
"Yes, Emily,"  
  
"Um .. er... can I see the bear?" she pleaded.  
  
Lexie was unsure quite what Emily meant to start with, "Bear? bear ?.... oh do you mean Archie's bear?" she replied, having finally seen the light. She must somewhat surprised that Emily still remembered their conversation from earlier in the week.  
  
Emily nodded.  
  
"Well it's Archie's bear but I'm sure if you asked him nicely he wouldn't mind taking you upstairs to see him."  
  
Emily turned on her heels and ran off to find Archie who was outside talking to Matt about their plans for the outbuildings.  
  
"Archie, Archie, can I see your bear?" Emily called as she bounded across the farmyard in the direction of the two men. "Pleeeease."  
  
Archie was perplexed but began to see the light when he saw Lexie mouthing 'your teddy bear' to him as she followed behind the little girl.  
  
"Aahh, my teddy bear. Yes of course you can see him but it might take a bit of searching to find him," Archie explained. "I think he might be in one of the boxes we haven't unpacked yet."  
  
"Well, I can help," Emily said, determinedly taking Archie's hand.  
  
Lexie laughed as she watched Archie being pulled into the house by a lively and chattering Emily. He gave Lexie one of his long suffering looks as they turned the corner and disappeared from sight. Emily's voice could still be heard floating back to them.  
  
"Aren't you a bit old to have a teddy bear?"  
  
"Strong willed young lady my daughter," Matt mused as he joined Lexie in the yard.  
  
As it turned out the bear wasn't hard to find. Lexie had labelled all the boxes and he was right at the top of the one saying 'Archie's toys and games'.  
  
The bear was definitely showing his age, as there were a few bald patches, but it was obvious that he had been well loved and cared for. Archie placed him on an old chest of drawers in one of the spare rooms and Emily stood back to look at him.  
  
"He doesn't look very smart," she commented, staring at him with narrowing blue eyes as if she was judging a teddy bear competition.  
  
"Well, that's because he is very old," Archie replied.  
  
"As old as you?" Emily enquired.  
  
Archie looked a little taken aback by this comment. "Well yes, almost. He was a present from my brother and sister when I was just a few days old."  
  
"What's his name?" Emily said, continuing with her questions.  
  
"Bertie."  
  
"Oooh, I like that," smiled Emily and danced off round the room chanting "Bertie, Bertie, Bertie the bear."  
  
She stopped and looked round the room suddenly, "It's not very nice in here is it? Where's the furniture?"  
  
"That's because we're going to paint it and make it into a room for someone to come and stay in."  
  
"Oh are you going to have someone to stay. Mummy and daddy say we might have a little baby come and stay soon."  
  
Archie wasn't sure how to respond to this. Lexie had let him in on Jill and Matt's news, of course, but he was on pain of death to mention it to anyone else and he supposed that must include Emily. He decided the best course of action was distraction.  
  
"Shall we go back and look in that box again? I'm sure there must be something in there you could play with."  
  
Archie was right. There were lots of things in the box, and many of them brought back some of his childhood memories. "Aha," he suddenly exclaimed as he reached into the box and withdrew some pieces of railing. "Do you like playing with trains Emily?"  
  
Downstairs Lexie was clearing up the kitchen after Archie's exploits. She was chatting to Duncan and Matt, when Matt's phone started ringing. Finding that the reception wasn't too good, he quickly absented himself to the yard in order to take the call. Lexie lost no opportunity to have some fun with Duncan.  
  
"So wee man," Lexie began, "you won't be dining in with us this evening?"  
  
"No, I thought I might go down to the pub and see if I could get in a game of darts," Duncan replied.  
  
"Oh, now. Well if I was a suspicious girl, I'd say you have rather a soft spot for a certain someone who works there and I don't mean Dan, " she chuckled.  
  
"Lexie" he warned.  
  
"Alright, alright. I will say no more .. but I do like Lucy she always seems so......  
  
"Lexie" he warned again menacingly.  
  
"OK, my lips are sealed." Lexie pulled her fingers across her mouth to zip her lips together.  
  
Matt returned to the kitchen looking rather pale.  
  
"Is everything alright?" Lexie enquired. She could see straight away that it was not good news.  
  
"No, not really. That was the hospital. Jill's mum seems to have had some sort of a turn. Looks quite serious. They don't know what it is yet but apparently she more or less fainted and now she has a temperature and is still having a few palpitations. They've been trying to get hold of Jill but she's not answering probably not back yet. I'll have to go to the hospital straightaway and try and contact Jill from there."  
  
Matt looked more and more distressed as his mind went over all the possibilities. He was very fond of Jill's mum. She was so much part of their family and she was always so good with ..... "Oh no, Emily." He suddenly remembered. "What am I going to do about her. She'd better not come to the hospital. It's not the nicest of places for children to be and it might be a bit distressing for her. Besides, I don't know how long I might have to be there. Perhaps I could ring my cousin."  
  
Lexie was quickly to the rescue, "It's fine, she can stay here."  
  
"Are you sure?" Matt couldn't disguise the relief in his voice but was uncomfortable at the thought of having to leave his young daughter with people who had only so recently become their friends. He knew he could trust them but what about Emily. How would she react?  
  
"Oh ay, of course I'm sure. We'll be pleased to have her. Won't we Dunc? And I know Archie would love her to stay."  
  
Matt contemplated the alternatives, which weren't many. "Well I'll have to make sure Emily is alright with it."  
  
As if on cue, the conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Emily bursting through the kitchen door.  
  
"Lexie, Lexie, have you got a tunnel?" she called as she almost collided with her.  
  
Lexie was a little surprised. "A tunnel? Are you sure that's what you want darling?"  
  
"Yes, Archie told me to ask for a tunnel" and by way of explanation she added "for our railway!"  
  
"Ah, now I understand," Lexie replied, as she began to grasp the situation. "Well, I'll have a look round and see what I can find for you and bring it up. Are you having fun up there?"  
  
"Ooh yes. Archie has got a big train set and he's got engines and stations and all sorts of things and I'm in charge of the level crossing but I think we need a tunnel. "Oooh are those jam tarts for tea? Can I have one?" She grabbed one without waiting for the answer and dashed out of the room shouting "thank you" as she headed for the stairs.  
  
Lexie looked across at Matt and smiled "I think that might answer your question. She seems quite contented already. Now why don't you take this cereal box up there for the tunnel and you can explain it all to Emily and put Archie in the picture. Then you'll be able to get off to the hospital without having to worry about Emily as well as Mary. You can phone us from there with an update."  
  
Matt went off with the cereal box to sort things out with Emily and Archie. Emily was so engrossed in her level crossing duties that she hardly looked up. Matt whispered a quick explanation to Archie before planting a kiss on the top of his daughter's head and hurrying off to the hospital.  
  
Later that evening after Duncan had departed to explore the pleasures of the pub, Archie, Lexie and Emily found themselves immersed in playing trains. Emily seemed barely to have noticed her parents' absence and was lapping up all the individual attention that Archie and Lexie were giving her. They seemed to be able to produce all sorts of nice games and food as if from out of a hat. She was still in charge of the level crossing but now had a whistle, which she used so frequently that Lexie was beginning to wonder where the headache pills had been put. Archie was in charge of the station and had to make all the announcements, such as "The train now approaching platform 3 is the 18.52 train calling at all stations to Banbridge". Lexie's job involved having to dart from one end of the room to another to change over points and signals, while Emily insisted on closing the gates every few minutes for another cow, horse or car to cross over the railway.  
  
The giggling and laughter almost drowned out the sound of the telephone but Archie just caught it in time. Lexie and Emily continued their discussion about which was their favourite farm animal, as he jumped to his feet and disappeared outside to answer it.  
  
"Hello."  
  
"Oh hi Matt, sorry about the background noise. It's the girls. How's Mary?"  
  
Matt told him that Jill's mother was still very poorly but now they had found the cause they were sure of a full recovery. Apparently she had had an allergic reaction and she would be having more tests later to find out the cause. Matt had managed to talk to Jill but her course had only just finished and she wasn't going to make it to the hospital for another hour or so.  
  
"I'm a bit worried about Emily," Matt pondered, "I'm afraid it's going to be very late before we can get over to pick her up?"  
  
Archie didn't hesitate before responding, "Don't worry, she can stay here tonight. She's been no trouble at all. In fact I can't remember having so much fun in a long while. We haven't stopped laughing. The last thing you need to fret about now is looking after Emily. She seems quite happy here."  
  
"Are you sure?" Matt queried, "She can be quite a handful sometimes you know."  
  
"Well maybe it will be good practice for the future," quipped Archie.  
  
"Well in that case I think we'd both be very grateful," replied a relieved Matt. "Perhaps I'd better have a quick word with her to explain things."  
  
Archie called Emily to the phone and she listened patiently to all her father's instructions - to be a good girl and do what Archie and Lexie told her. He explained that Archie and Lexie wanted her to be their 'special' house guest and that mummy and daddy would be over to pick her up in the morning. After she had regaled her father with descriptions of the railway business that was running in the room next door, she passed the phone to Lexie, who having been put up to speed by Archie, was filled in on Emily's bedtime routine.  
  
After Archie had ingeniously persuaded Emily that the trains had to go to the engine shed (ie another cereal packet) by eight o'clock, as trains didn't run any later, she was taken in hand by Lexie, who found her one of her t-shirts to wear as a nightdress.  
  
Lexie hadpromised her a story and the little girl couldn't wait. Emily was already very fond of Lexie. She loved the way she was always smiling and the funny way she spoke. She climbed up onto the bed and snuggled down in anticipation. Then her eyes widened and she sat up again, "Where's my teddy Edward?"  
  
"Well I think teddy Edward is busy looking after your house for you," said Lexie, thinking on her feet.  
  
"And so I wondered if you'd like to have Bertie come and look after you tonight," asked a smiling Archie on cue, as he came into the room carrying the bear.  
  
After being reassured by Archie that he had other things to cuddle in bed these days, Emily grabbed hold of the bear and settled down again. She looked at the two of them and whispered quietly "Lexie?"  
  
"Yes sweetheart."  
  
"Can I have a hug? Mummy and daddy always give me a hug."  
  
Lexie smiled at her and leaned over to give her a little squeeze and a kiss on the top of her head. Emily looked over Lexie's shoulder. "And Archie."  
  
Archie looked a little embarrassed at first and then, smiling first at Lexie and then at Emily, he knelt down by the bed, gave her a warm hug and wished her "sweet dreams".  
  
Lexie settled down on the bed next to Emily. As there weren't any children's books in the box so she would have to make one up. "Now then ... where shall I start ...?" Inspiration began to dawn. "Aha ... Once upon a time there was a little girl who dreamt that one day she would live in a big castle and that she would marry a handsome prince ...."  
  
Archie smiled quietly to himself as he slowly closed the bedroom door and left. 


	13. Part 13

PART 13  
  
Lexie tip toe-ed out of the bedroom, Emily had fallen asleep quite quickly after the excitement of the evening. She made her way downstairs to the kitchen, Archie was preparing supper. Lexie collapsed onto the sofa  
  
"this children lark is exhausting" she commented as Archie handed her a glass of wine  
  
"come on Lex, you enjoyed it just as much as I did"  
  
"no it was fun and Emily is lovely" they both smiled at each other  
  
"I hope she sleeps alright, mind you she seemed pretty exhausted and I didn't get to finish my story!" Lexie said as she took a sip of wine  
  
"I'm sure she will and you can always finish the story in the morning" Archie replied as he tossed the salad in some dressing  
  
"in the morning!! I don't think so I've got red onion and goats cheese tartlets to make, rosemary and honey bread, oh and feta cheese and olive bread" Lexie said looking slightly worried  
  
"don't worry, I'll help. Supper's ready. I wonder what time she wakes up?" Archie pondered  
  
"oh heavens I hadn't thought about that, we might have to commandeer Dunc for childcare duty, this is delicious Arch"  
  
"Thanks. No it will be fine. I hope Mary is alright Jill and Matt must be extremely worried"  
  
"Yes they must but I get the impression Mary is a tough old boot. Now what I want to know Arch is how Duncan is fairing with Lucy down at the pub, we still don't really know what happened with Jess do we?"  
  
"Well he mentioned something the other day about them both wanting different things, but I'm surprised he hasn't said anything to you Lex"  
  
"well I suppose really everything has been so hectic there really hasn't been a chance" she said as she got up from the table yawning and went back to sit on the sofa, Archie joined her and she rested her head on his shoulder.  
  
"yeah I guess you 're right Lex and I am sure in his own time he will say something, but at some point he has to go back to Glenbogle, he can't stay here forever"  
  
"but Arch if you think about it, life there must be very different to how it used to be, perhaps he doesn't feel he wants to stay anymore, yes the work is the same, but the people are different, and lets face it, its the people that make a place. Yes I know Molly and Golly are still there, but you and I have gone, Paul is in charge, maybe he sees himself doing something different now. Remember when he went to work for Hermione and then applied for that job in Glasgow, you said then he had spoken of moving on"  
  
"you're right Lex"  
  
"I usually am" she said smiling "but I guess until he talks to one of us there is very little we can do"  
  
"no but....Lex you know he could stay here, we are going to need some help, in the gardens and hopefully with the business, he could rent the cottage we stayed in when we first got here, what do you think?"  
  
"I think it sounds like a great idea, but we shouldn't suggest it unless Duncan indicates he doesn't want to stay at Glenbogle, he does seem happy here and who knows after tonight he might have a real reason to stay!"  
  
"mmm speaking of the pub, I rang Dan earlier and everything is all set for tomorrow, good of him to let us use the function room for free" Archie stated, as he said it he could feel Lexie stiffen against him and realised she was obviously anxious about Dan.  
  
"yes it was, I do hope everything goes well tomorrow I am quite apprehensive" Lexie said  
  
"Lex, it will be fine, with the two of us together at the helm what could go wrong? We put the ad in the local papers and did that leaflet drop, it has been well publicised in the village, and if nothing else people are bound to turn up for free food" Archie assured her  
  
"You are right Arch, I'm just being silly. I think I'll go and check on Emily and then have a long soak in the bath and then turn in"  
  
"Good idea, I'll just tidy up in here, check everything for tomorrow and join you."  
  
As Archie cleared away the supper dishes he thought about Lexie and her feelings about Dan, he guessed she knew he realised how she felt, but just wished she would say something. He knew there was little he could do apart from reassure her, he sensed though he needed to wait until she said something to him. He knew he would have to ensure as far as he could that Lexie wasn't left alone with Dan, not that he thought Dan would do anything but he knew Lexie would be uncomfortable. He doubted though that Dan would have much to do with them, as they would be in the function room and he would be behind the bar.  
  
Lexie lay back in the hot bubble bath and closed her eyes. Emily had been fast asleep when she had checked on her, holding on tight to Bertie Bear, there was something comforting and beautiful about watching children sleep. She began to think about Archie and how at first he had been almost a little shy with Emily, but then how good he had been playing with her. Lexie smiled to herself and a flutter of happiness passed through her as she thought about him, how much she loved him and what a wonderful father he would be. Her thoughts then turned to the next day and the publicity event and willing it to be a success. If only it wasn't in the pub and if only Dan wasn't going to be there.  
  
Lexie had been so lost in thought she wasn't aware that Archie had entered the room until she felt him massaging her shoulders, she put her hand up to touch his  
  
"I thought you were asleep Lex"  
  
"I think I almost was, mmm that feels wonderful, I knew it was a good idea to have a free standing bath"  
  
"what were you thinking about?"  
  
"oh you" she said smiling "and Emily and tomorrow"  
  
"oh and what were you thinking about me?" Archie asked teasingly squeezing her hand  
  
"how much I love you and what a wonderful father you'll be one day"  
  
Archie lent down and kissed the top of her head  
  
"I love you too Lexie Macdonald, but I think its time for bed for you sleepyhead, I'm going to go and shut up the chickens and then join you."  
  
"yes Dad" she said as she splashed him with water as he walked past, Archie turned tried to look at her despairingly but he caught her eye and they both laughed. Archie was still dreaming away when Lexie got up at 6am to start to make the bread for the days function, as she entered the kitchen yawning, she was aware of an odd noise coming from the direction of the sofa, it was Duncan who had obviously passed out on his return from the pub the previous evening. Although tempted to wake him, she decided to leave him be and get on with the cooking.  
  
Just over an hour later the breads was rising and the goats cheese and red onion tartlets were in the oven, and Lexie was just thinking about making some coffee, when she heard a little voice calling 'Lexie, Lexie' she realised it was Emily. She dashed upstairs and found her sitting on the top stair hugging Bertie bear, with a tear sliding down her cheek. She took one look at Lexie and her face crumpled  
  
"I want my Mummy" she cried  
  
"oh sweetheart" said Lexie giving her hug "your Mummy will be here soon to take you home, now how about we get you dressed, then go and feed the chickens and fix ourselves a yummy breakfast"  
  
Emily smiled at her and nodded her head, then she looked up at her expectantly and said "do you think Archie will play trains again?"  
  
"well Ems, Archie the lazybones is still asleep and he has lots to do today, but Duncan will play a game with you I'm sure"  
  
"Who are you calling a lazybones" asked Archie as he appeared in the doorway trying to look cross, Emily giggled "you" she said  
  
A little later just as Archie, Lexie and Emily were sitting down for breakfast, Duncan woke up with a start, Emily took one look at his hair sticking up and the red marks on his face from the cushions and started to giggle, as did Lexie.  
  
"good night was it Dunc?" Archie asked  
  
"mmm yes I think so, any cornflakes going?"  
  
"so........" said Lexie "Lucy?"  
  
"yes Lex, something you want to know? oh alright we had a great evening and I'm seeing her again tonight, mm think I'll take my cornflakes and go and watch Saturday morning cartoons" Duncan said  
  
Archie and Lexie gave each other a look and laughed, just as there was a knock at the back door.  
  
"whoever it is they are early its only 7.45" said Lexie as she went to open the door, it was Jill  
  
"hello sorry to come so early but I knew you'd be up and well" said Jill sighing  
  
"Mummy, mummy" cried Emily "come in would you like coffee" Lexie asked  
  
"Hello Ems, yes please Lex, have you been a very very good girl for Lexie and Archie" Jill asked her daughter as she swept her up into a hug giving her a kiss  
  
"yes and do you know Mummy, Archie played trains with me and Lexie let me feed the chickens"  
  
"Emily would you like to come with me to collect the eggs from the hens" Archie asked her, sensing that Jill could do with a breather with Lexie before taking Emily home.  
  
Emily and Archie went to collect the eggs, as Jill sat down on the sofa with a coffee.  
  
"How's Mary" asked Lexie  
  
"oh she is going to be fine it was an allergic reaction to some new tablets she was prescribed, we are bringing her home later today, but it was extremely worrying and I hardly slept once we got home. Anyway thank you so much for having Emily to stay, I can't tell you how much we appreciate it"  
  
"No I was glad we could help and Emily was a pleasure to have around" Lexie told her  
  
"Its the publicity event today isn't it for Occasions and Celebrations, all organised?"  
  
"Yes we are more or less, just a few things to heat up and then transport everything down to the pub, and set up the table and display, all fairly straightforward really"  
  
Jill noticed a hesitation in Lexie's voice "nervous" she asked  
  
"a little, we want the business to be a success, I'm not sure if the pub is the right place for the publicity event" Lexie said her voice tailing off  
  
"oh any particular reason" Jill asked remembering the incident earlier in the week in the pub with Dan, and the concerns she and Matt had discussed  
  
"well" Lexie began, just as Archie and Emily came back into the kitchen  
  
"Mummy, Mummy we found 12 eggs and Archie says I can take some home with me"  
  
"that's lovely, come on darling time we left Archie and Lexie in peace, thank you both so much and we'll try and pop down to the pub later, if not hope all goes well. Now Emily what do you need to say?"  
  
Archie and Lexie crouched down as Emily thanked them for having her to stay, and kissed them goodbye. After Jill and Emily had gone, Archie turned took hold of Lexie's hand and kissed her "you know what you said to me last night about being a wonderful father, well you know don't you, you'll make an even better mother" he said smiling "and children is something we need to talk about, but not now as it is action stations if we are to be ready!" "I know and we will soon" she replied smiling.  
  
"Right" said Archie "Duncan we need you now!" Archie, Lexie and Duncan stood back to admire their handywork, it had been a crazy few hours, but they were ready and so was everything for the event. The exhibition screen had their newly designed logo for 'Occasions and Celebrations', large sample menus and photos. Apart from the table of food with a selection of hot and cold food and sample menus, there was a second table, with enquiry forms, booking forms with menu and meal planners and business cards.  
  
"all we need now are the hungry hordes and one or two people to make a booking" said Archie putting his arm round Lexie's shoulders  
  
"ooo I'm feeling quite nervous Arch supposing someone asks me something I don't know or wants something complicated, or I get the maths wrong working out a price"  
  
"och Lex you'll be fine you ran Glenbogle for years this will be easy" Duncan reassured her  
  
"Dunc's right Lex" Archie said giving her quick hug "look why don't we all go and have a quick glass of champagne to toast our success, I asked Dan to put a bottle on ice for us"  
  
They walked through to the bar area, "ah all ready to go?" asked Dan  
  
"yep pretty much" Archie replied "can we have our champagne please Dan and won't you join us for a glass?"  
  
"here you go and yes I will thanks" said Dan, Archie popped the cork and began to pour out for everyone  
  
"right" said Archie as he raised his glass "here's to the success of Occasions and Celebrations" he said smiling at Lexie, "occasions and celebrations" the others echoed as he leaned in to give Lexie a kiss.  
  
Duncan cleared his throat, looked a bit nervous and said "um Arch, Lex I just want to say its great to be here with you and to think, well all that has happened in the past 6 years and I just want to wish you all the success in the world"  
  
"oh Dunc you're so sweet" said Lexie as she gave him a hug with a tear in her eye,  
  
"thanks Dunc and its good to have you around to help too" Archie added.  
  
Suddenly everything became busy people starting arriving and for the next couple of hours Archie and Lexie were busy chatting to people about the business and serving food and talking about the services they offered. Eventually there was a lull, they were just exchanging notes on who they had met, when Dan came through to the function room. Putting his arm round Lexie he asked "so how's it going?" Lexie squirmed, his arm was a little too tight for comfort and pulling her towards him, Duncan seeing her discomfort said  
  
"Lex where did you say you put the spare enquiry forms and menu samples?", she gratefully moved away leaving Archie to talk to Dan. "Thanks" she mouthed at Duncan, then began "in the blue box under the table I think." Lexie had thought that perhaps she had been over reacting in her feelings, but Duncan obviously saw something, oh that man she thought.  
  
"Lexie hello, how are you I thought I must come and see what this little business of yours is all about" Lexie looked up and saw Margaret Mason the village busybody.  
  
"Hello Margaret, I'm well thanks and you? Come and meet my husband Archie. Archie this is Margaret Mason who is organising the village May Fayre. Margaret my husband Archie"  
  
"nice to meet you Margaret" said Archie shaking her hand "you too Archie, and so kind of you and Matt Langley to offer to do the barbecue and the pig roast at the May Fayre"  
  
"our pleasure Margaret" Archie replied  
  
"oh hello Dan" Margaret said coldly as she noticed Dan's presence in the room  
  
"Margaret" replied Dan leaving the room, Archie and Lexie exchanged a look on hearing this none too friendly exchange.  
  
Margaret turned to Lexie "might I have a word dear?"  
  
"of course" Lexie replied. Margaret took her by the arm and guided over to a corner of the room "now dear I hope you won't think I'm meddling, but I feel I should warn you, but that Dan Shaw has a somewhat unsavoury reputation, pretty young thing like you better watch yourself, mind you "she said looking over her shoulder "with a gorgeous husband like that, you wouldn't want to look elsewhere!"  
  
Lexie was just about to ask her what she was implying when she heard a voice calling  
  
"Lexie, Lexie" it was Emily who ran up to her and gave her a hug "look, look I did a picture for you and do you know my Granny had to go to hospital that's why I had to stay with you, but she's alright now and I did a picture for Archie too, Archie" she said running over to him "look Archie its you and me collecting the eggs from the hens"  
  
"so it is, its lovely thank you very much Emily, I shall put it up on the wall at home"  
  
"Well I had better be going, nice to meet you Archie bye everyone, oh and don't forget May Fayre meeting next week" said Margaret as she left  
  
"I see you have had a visitation for the wicked witch of the west" said Jill rolling her eyes "and I can't believe Emily mentioned Mum being in hospital in front of her that will be all round the village by tea time" Archie and Lexie laughed  
  
"Lex what was she saying to you so secretly in the corner" Archie asked  
  
"I'll tell you later Arch" Lexie replied  
  
"so has it been a success?" Jill asked  
  
"yes it has" Archie told her "we have three dinner party bookings and a 40th birthday party booking for 50 people and the photographer from the local paper turned up when it was really busy, which was great"  
  
"that is wonderful I'm so pleased for you, look I better go I left Mum with Matt but I wanted to see how things had gone and Ems wanted to give you the pictures, come on Ems say good bye."  
  
Archie and Lexie looked round the room after everyone had left, "well Mrs Macdonald" said Archie wrapping her in a hug "I think we can safely say 'Occasions and Celebrations' is well on the way to success"  
  
"sure is" Lexie replied giving him a kiss. 


	14. Part 14

**Part Fourteen**"I knew this was a bad idea.  Can anyone see a space?  Anywhere?"Archie tapped on the dashboard as the wipers slowly slid across the windscreen in front of him.  They had been motionless for the last five minutes trying to get into the supermarket car park.  It was a very wet Sunday morning and Archie, Lexie and Duncan were obviously not alone in thinking that the only thing to do on such a morning was to head straight  for the shops.  Unfortunately the owners of the supermarket had paid little heed to the needs of shoppers on wet Sundays and the car park was obviously  not up to the job.  All around them steam rising from the wet vehicles merged with the steam from their owners heads as the frustration levels rose. "Look this is no good at all," Archie suddenly declared, "I think we're going to have to come back tomorrow." "We can't do that Arch.  We've got nothing left in the house to eat.  We used everything for the promotion.  I thought there would be some of it left  but the food went down so well that I'm afraid the cupboard is bare."  Lexie  paused to think for a bit. "Right!  Why don't you leave me here and I'll go round and get everything  and then you and Duncan can head off to the town and see if you can find  somewhere to buy those tools that we need for the garden." "Or .."  Duncan was clearly anxious to help, "I could come with you and help carry everything." Lexie considered this proposition and remembered the last time she had been  in a supermarket with Duncan.  He had managed to knock over one of those  giant promotion pyramids.  Cans had rolled in all directions and she could still picture Duncan, as he crawled around in his kilt on all fours, trying to chase them.  She knew that on this occasion he really wanted to help but  she wasn't very familiar with the layout of this store yet and would need to concentrate. "That's really nice of you to offer Dunc.  But I think you might be more  useful to Archie.  You know so much more about gardening than he does.  That's right isn't it Arch?"  She gave Archie a very meaningful look and  added  "You're going to need some advice aren't you?" "I am?" questioned Archie, raising his eyebrows.  Then the penny began to drop.  "Ooh yes, I am.  Duncan we need to get some tools for that vegetable  garden, but, you know me, not exactly the green fingered type. So you'll  have to tell me what I need to get.  Give me the expert's eye as it were." Duncan looked very serious at the proposition that he might be an expert at  anything."Oh, right then.  I'm sorry Lexie but, you know how it is.  Can't let old  Archie down now, can I?" "That's alright Dunc.  Guess I'll have to manage without you then."  Lexie  turned to retrieve her bag and shopping list.  "I'll just jump out now.  Look the traffic is beginning to move so you'll be able to get going.  I'll  give you a ring when I've got everything."  With that she deftly leapt out  of the car and dashed towards the supermarket entrance, dodging the huge rain puddles that dotted the ground. Archie and Duncan manoeuvred out of the car park and headed into town. "I'm glad I've got this opportunity to talk to you Dunc."  Archie kept his eyes on the road while Duncan leaned forward between the front seats.  "I thought I ought to let you in on a little secret I'm hiding from Lex." "Archie, now, you don't have to tell me things if they're secret." "No, I need to Duncan.  It's about next Tuesday." "Tuesday.  What's happening on Tuesday?"  Duncan looked puzzled. "Well, it's something I've had planned for a while now – long before you came.  I'm afraid you won't have the pleasure of our company because I am taking Lexie out for a meal." "Ah, that's nice Archie.  She'll like that.  Is that the secret?" "No, not exactly Duncan.  You see she'll just be thinking we're going out for a meal but what she doesn't know is that I've booked us a room into the hotel so we won't have to drive back afterwards.  We can just relax and enjoy ourselves.  It's about time we really treated ourselves to a good time.  Lexie's been working really hard to get the house and the business up and running and I want to let her know how much she's appreciated." "Oh Arch.  I think she knows that already, but I think that's a great idea." "Well I'm sorry to leave you on your own.  We'll be back in the morning.  I was just hoping that I could rely on you to lock the chickens up for us on that day." "Course I will.  No problem."  Duncan sat back in his seat and pondered a little."Arch, you wouldn't mind if I had a guest round that night would you?  Just or dinner you understand.  Nothing else." "Course not Duncan."  Archie laughed.  "Who'd you have in mind?  As if I can't guess." Duncan squirmed a little and looked embarrassed.  "Well, she might not come of course.  But I think she has that night off." "You just go ahead Duncan and have a good time.  And if you want any advise about what to give her to eat you only have to ask." "You mean I can't give her pot noodles?" said Duncan with a wink.                                                                   Meanwhile, Lexie had been busy finding her way round the crowded supermarket. "Whose bright idea was this?" she muttered to herself as her eyes scanned the shopping list in her hand for the umpteenth time looking to see what was still needed. "Right, they've sold out of fresh coriander and basil so we'll have to make do with the dried stuff." She pushed the heavy trolley down one aisle after another scouring the shelves unsuccessfully. "It's Mrs Macdonald isn't it?"  The voice came from behind her. Lexie turned and saw a girl standing there with outstretched hand.  It was Lucy, the girl from the pub, that Duncan had taken a shine to. "Hello, it's Lucy isn't it?  And for goodness sake, none of that Mrs Macdonald.  Just call me Lexie."  The girl smiled shyly and they shook hands.  Lexie recognised her, of course, from the visits to the pub, although most of what she knew had been passed on in snippets from what Duncan had told her.  She was a sweet, pretty girl, not very tall and with long honey blonde hair. "Lucy, I wonder if you can help me.  I don't know my way round in here yet.  You don't happen to know where they keep the dried herbs, do you?" "Well, it's over near the flour I think.  Look, shall I show you?" "Oh, yes please," replied Lexie, grateful for the assistance, and allowing herself to be led to an area of the shop that she hadn't properly explored yet.  "I really couldn't have picked a worse time to come shopping could I?  Is it always like this?" "No, its not usually this bad," Lucy looked around her, "Guess it's the weather." They found the herbs and Lexie thanked Lucy for her help, expecting her to leave.  However Lucy hesitated. "Mrs Mac  …   sorry .. Lexie.  Can I ask you something?"  Lucy looked embarrassed as she searched for the right words.. "Yes of course, Lucy, what's up?  Fire away."  Lexie said, smiling reassuringly. The girl still looked awkward.  "Well, it's just that you've know Duncan for a long time, right?" "Oh yes, we go back a long way."  Lexie was beginning to guess what might be coming. "Well, I just wondered if you knew what he was going to be doing.  I know he has to go back to the big house in Scotland soon but he says he'll be back to visit and he wants to see me again and .. well .. I've got very fond of him in the last few weeks and I just wondered if you thought he really meant  it.  It's the sort of thing men are always saying and I was wondering if I ought to believe him or not." "Well Lucy, all I can say is that Duncan is one of the most loyal and honest people I know and if he says he is going to do something then I would believe him." Lucy smiled,  "Yes, he's really kind as well isn't he?  He always wants to look after me and check up that I'm OK."  She paused and Lexie gave her what she thought was an encouraging smile.  Lucy must have been well into her twenties and yet she seemed younger. "So," Lucy continued, "does he have many friends up in Scotland?" "You mean 'special' friends?" enquired Lexie with a meaningful look. "Yes, I suppose that's what I mean." "Well as far as I know there's no one special at the moment – apart from you of course."  (Lucy blushed slightly.)  "He's had a few girlfriends and there was one a little while ago that we thought might be going somewhere but I think that's all over now.  He never talks about her.  Besides, Duncan has always been a one woman guy.  He'd never do the dirty on you … ever." "That's kind of what I thought," Lucy responded thoughtfully before she was almost knocked over by an angry looking woman who pushed past her while heading in the direction of the bread counter. "You alright?"  Lexie asked. Lucy nodded. The interruption afforded Lexie the opportunity to do a little enquiring of her own. "So do you come from round here then Lucy?  Have you worked in the pub long?" "Oh I've lived here all my life.  I still live with my mum ..  in that pink house at the end of the village.  Do you know the one?"  Lexie nodded.  "Actually I thought I might have to move away last year, because I couldn't get a job anywhere round here.  Then Dan gave me some work in the pub.  Do you know that he's my mum's cousin?  I don't think they were ever very close families but when Dan took over the tenancy last year he just couldn't seem to keep any of his bar staff.  They just kept on leaving him in the lurch.  Then Mum suggested that he give me a try, which was really good of him because I'd never worked in a bar before.  He gave me a chance and I've been there ever since, must be about nine months now." "That was good of him to take you on like that.  What's he like to work for then?" Lexie enquired.  She hoped she didn't sound too nosey but she was itching to find out whether anyone else shared her opinions on Dan. "Oh, not bad I suppose.  I have to be grateful don't I?  He can be a bit odd sometimes, especially with some of the customers.  I know he's rubbed a few people up the wrong way but he's always treated me right.  Mind you he knows he'd have my mum on his back straight away if he didn't.  Have you met my mum?  I think everyone in the village is a bit scared of her but they shouldn't be.  Her names Margaret, Margaret Mason," she added with a small smile. Lexie might have inquired further but at that minute her mobile rang. "Lex, we're back in the car park.  Didn't have to go far before we found this garden centre and we managed to get everything there.  How's it going?  Are you nearly finished yet?" As Lexie sorted out the rendezvous with Archie, Lucy mouthed the word 'Mum' to her and pointed in another direction.  Lexie waved her away with a smile.                                                                   A little later Archie and Duncan were helping Lexie to bundle all the groceries into the back of the car. "I saw your girlfriend in there," Lexie terased, nudging Duncan with her elbow. "My girlfriend?  But I don't have a ….  Oh, you mean Lucy.  Well she's not really my girlfriend .. yet."  Duncan looked uncomfortable. "Well she seems quite keen on you." "Does she?"  Duncan brightened noticeably.  "What did she say?" "Now that would be telling." Lexie giggled as she climbed into the car.                                                             "Looking forward to getting back then Dunc?"  Archie commented, as he indicated and turned out of the car park. Duncan appeared not to hear as he continued to stare out at the passing countryside. "Duncan?" "Oh, yeah … yeah."  Duncan responded. "You don't sound very convincing Dunc," Lexie giggled. "Oh no, it'll be great to get back.  It's just all a bit different now.  I'm sure it will be OK once I get there." "Come on Dunc."  Archie realised his friend had something on his mind.  "What is it?  The estate, the job?" Lexie joined in.  " Jess?  Golly?  Come on we know there's something not right.  Tell Lexie and Archie." Duncan squirmed a little in his seat.  This was clearly the opportune moment to tell Archie and Lexie about his misgivings.  Now the situation had arisen, he wasn't quite so sure he wanted to share. "Well you know I love Glenbogle …  a lot ….   but ….   to tell the truth …   I'm not sure I fit in there any more." "Why.  What's changed?"  Archie asked. "Well, emm ..  I hope this isn't going to sound bad but …."  his voice trailed off. "Go on," said Archie and Lexie together. "It's just that I don't think I fit in to Paul's way of doing things.  He's got all these new ideas and none of them seem to fit in with what I want to do.  All he seems interested in is promoting the outdoor pursuits side of things.  I know he's doing a good job but it's not just that.  It's Jess as well.  This job share thing isn't really working.  We never seem to agree about anything." "So is that why you two have split up then?" asked Lexie. "Partly.  And now Jess keeps coming up with new ideas that Paul thinks are wonderful.  He just thinks of me as 'Good old Dunc' happy to go along with what everybody else wants.  I don't even get a chance to have my say or put forward any views of my own.   We all seem to be living such separate lives now.  Do you remember when we all used to sit down at dinner together or when I could always come and find you in the kitchen Lex, when I needed a chat? …   Glenbogle's just not like that any more."  Duncan gave a sad smile and turned to look out of the window and hide the moistness in his eyes. Lexie and Archie glanced across at each other remembering their previous conversation.  Asking Duncan to work for them might not be as far fetched as they had first imagined.


	15. Part 15

**PART FIFTEEN**

"ok then Paul bye see you in a couple of days"

"so what did he say?" Archie asked, as Duncan put the phone down.

Duncan so delighted and excited by Archie and Lexie's offer to come and work for them in Banbridge helping with the business and around the house, he had decided to tell Paul as soon as possible. Archie and Lexie insisted he wait at least 24 hours, to make sure he was happy with his decision.

"well at first he was quite taken aback but when he realised how serious I was"

"and excited" Lexie said butting in

"yeah that too" Duncan continued "anyway he was fine, I agreed to go back and work for another couple of weeks just to tidy up a few loose ends and then I'm all yours. Whilst I'm back I'll discuss with Golly and Paul the practicalities of Glenbogle supplying you with fish and game as required for the business as well."

"ah Dunc that's great" said Lexie giving him a hug "it will be lovely to have you around, now I need to go and glam myself up for my evening out with my lovely husband" Lexie continued, smiling at Archie.

As Lexie left the room, Archie turned to Duncan "Lexie's right Dunc, it will be good to have you around the place. Oh and you won't forget the hens and to lock up tonight will you as you enjoy and loose yourself in the company of the lovely Lucy?" he said teasingly

"No Arch I shall take my responsibilities seriously, and Archie thanks for this opportunity..... to work for you I mean.......not to shut up the hens tonight."

"no problem Dunc" said Archie slapping him on the back as he headed off to get changed.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Oh Lex" Archie said "you look so beautiful" she smiled as he walked towards her, she was wearing a pale blue dress that although appearing floaty hugged her figure and her hair was swept back with a few tendrils hanging around her face. He pulled her towards him as he ran his hands up the fabric of the dress, sending a tingle of response through her body, then he held her face in his hands and kissed her.

"You know Arch you're looking pretty hot yourself" Lexie murmured as she ran her hands down his back and up under the jacket of his suit, lightly scratching his back through the cotton of his shirt. Murmuring in response he kissed her again, "mmm if we're not careful we won't get out and as it is I'm going to have to go and reapply my lipstick" Lexie sighed. Archie kissed her again and reluctantly let her go.

As Lexie went into the en suite to check her make up, he quickly stashed a few more items into the over night bag he was hiding under the bed.

"Ready then?" he asked as she came back into the room "yes lets go"

"Bye Dunc" they called out as they left, Duncan came out of the kitchen "have fun, you sure you don't want me to drive you there so you can both have a drink?"

"thanks Dunc, but its fine" Archie replied

"and Dunc don't do anything I wouldn't do" Lexie called out to him teasingly

As they went outside to get in the car, Archie turned and said "I've left my wallet upstairs, you jump into the car Lex, I'll just go and grab it" on the pretext of getting his wallet, he dashed upstairs to grab the overnight bag.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They arrived at the hotel which was really a small country house, set down in a valley by a small river.

"oh Archie its beautiful how on earth did you find it?"  
  
"well the restaurant is in the coveted list of top restaurants in the UK"

Lexie turned and smiled, as Archie parked the car. As they got out he grabbed the overnight bag he had surreptitiously placed on the back seat

Lexie looked at him with a puzzled expression on her face "um Arch what's with the bag"

he grinned at her and placed an arm round her waist "my surprise"

"go on"

"well I've booked us a room for the night, you've been working so hard, and I just thought we should just relax and enjoy some time out together, I wanted to show you I love you and appreciate you"

"oh Arch that is so lovely" Lexie said as she placed a hand on his cheek and kissed him.

They went inside and checked in, then walked into the restaurant. It was small but beautiful, a log fire blazed in the grate. Some of walls were stone and others painted a very pale cream, a dividing wall gave the suggestion of two small dining rooms, and french doors led out onto a veranda.

"This is gorgeous and perfect for a cosy evening with my lovely husband" Lexie said squeezing Archie's hand.

"my thoughts exactly" Archie replied.

They settled back and ordered their food

"its going to be great having Duncan on board to help out with odd jobs and the business, there is no one quite like him he is unique" Archie laughed

"you're not wrong there, I am so glad we are able to help him, I feel a little guilty I missed what was happening to him, I was so caught up with the estate, you not being there all the pain and then of course thinking I.........." Lexie stopped realising she had said too much

Archie looked at Lexie's face she had paled and had a worried and pained look in her eyes

"Lex what is it?" he asked, Lexie hesitated, then reached over and took hold of his hand and held it tightly

"Arch I have something to tell you, I should have told you before, but I kept putting it off I guess I didn't want to taint our happiness" he could see the tears welling up in her eyes "please just listen and hear me out"

"ok" he replied not taking his eyes off her face

Archie felt a twist in his stomach wondering what on earth she was going to tell him. Lexie took a deep breath and began

"It was about three weeks after you left for Nepal I thought I was pregnant. I told no one I was so scared, I was missing you so much, it was horrible, it hurt so much," she paused to catch her breath "I couldn't cope, I suppose I sort of went into denial. Anyway eventually I went to see Dr Brown in the village, it turned out I wasn't pregnant, but my body had gone into a kind of physical shut down as a result of the emotional stress and my periods just stopped temporarily."

Lexie paused again to take a sip of water, as she looked up after putting the glass down her eyes met Archie's, she registered the shock and the hurt in his face, and as if in response a tear slid down her cheek as she reawakened all the pain she had felt at the time

"oh Lex why didn't you tell me?" he asked her feeling helpless and inadequate in the face of what she was telling him, as he reached to brush the tear away on her cheek

"Archie what would have been the point, there was nothing you could have done, I had to cope, and those weekly phone calls with you were so precious I wanted, needed maybe, to keep them light and chatty, I didn't want to spoil those few moments. Anyway once things had settled down, I had a chance to think and reflect, especially about my fear of pregnancy and having children. In a way perhaps it was a wake up call, making me face my fears and see what I was depriving myself of" she began to smile "oh Archie don't look so upset, this is the good bit"

"but Lexie I....just don't know what to say, to think, to feel, I made you feel that pain, that hurt, how could I do that to you, the one person I love more than anything in the world, I abandoned you when you needed me most, how can you ever forgive me?"

Lexie reached out and brushed her hand down the side of his face "Arch there is nothing to forgive, it happened, its past, its over, we've got to move forward which is what I was about to tell you about. "

Archie interrupted her "but Lex it can't be as simple as that, you've had time to think, I haven't its all new to me, I don't know its..."

"Archie you left you went to Nepal, you did what you had to do and I think I can understand why. I was left behind, I did what I had to do, it was a difficult situation but I had to cope, I've done it before in my life. I trusted you, trusted that you would return to me, you did. I'm just telling you more about what happened to me whilst you were away. You can't change what happened, but you need to know so we can move forward. I hold no grudge against you, I love you implicitly, but I would have been holding out on you, if I hadn't told you what happened, and now I want to forget and move forward which is where I was about up to"

"but Lex I should never have gone, how could I have left you for such selfish reasons, you said at the time I was putting everyone else before us, you were right, if I hadn't left you would never have suffered such pain, I...."

"Archie no don't you see, if you hadn't left, if Paul hadn't turned up we would never be here living our life just us in Banbridge." Archie nodded in agreement, "so you see sometimes you have to go through pain and emotional turmoil to come out into the bright light at the other end. Ok answer me these questions, are you happy?"

"yes of course but.."

"no buts allowed, isn't it wonderful here, don't you get the feeling that Occasions and Celebrations is going to be a success, isn't it exciting"

"yes" he said beginning to smile

"would we have ever ended up here if you hadn't gone away, where life is about us and not a tribe of people and the whole of Glenbogle and isn't there something wonderfully indulgent and pleasurable about that?"

"yes, yes Lex you are right, but it still doesn't excuse the pain and the hurt I caused you"

"no but in time you will have opportunity to make up for that and this surprise this evening is just wonderful, now can I continue with the good bit?"

"Yes"

"ok so I was talking about facing up to my fears and concerns, well my irrational fears and concerns really! I realised I want children sooner rather than later and with you there every step of the way, sharing the whole pregnancy experience with me. I was able to see that with you with me, anything is possible, I can do it, I can cope and with parenthood. But I need you Archie to help me, support me, to tell me I still look sexy when I feel like a beached whale, everything!"

Archie smiled, lent across the table and kissed her "you even have to ask, you will always look gorgeous, beautiful, sexy and delectable to me! Seriously Lex there is nothing I want more than to share everything with you. I can't begin to comprehend how you felt after I left, if I could I would do anything to rid you of that pain and hurt but I can't, but I will promise you this I will never do to our children what your father did, I won't leave again Lex ever."

The waiter who had been hovering sensing the time was not right to interrupt, placed their starters on the table in front of them.

"I know you'll be a wonderful mother" Archie assured her, she smiled at him "and Lex we'll get books, we'll get thermometers"

"thermometers?"

"you know to take your temperature"

Lexie burst our laughing "and are you going to make a wee chart to record my temperature as well?"

Archie smiled "perhaps, just think all that fun practising as well when your temperature isn't right!"

"practising what are you implying, wouldn't perfecting be better description?" she said jokingly

"yes but can you perfect perfection" he said, Lexie glanced up at him about to tease him about making such a cheesy comment, when she saw the look of utter desire and love in his face, an expression that spoke volumes. It made her whole body react even her breathing. There was a silence across the table filled with tangible electricity, Lexie broke it, knowing there was one final explanation she had to give to Archie.

"Archie there is something else I need to tell you. If I'm honest I'd been bottling up and burying my feelings about what happened whilst you were away. Although they would begin to re-surface and pop up each time we mentioned children and also being around Emily. Anyway, you know all my concerns about children stem from my Mum and what happened when I was younger. The thing is, all this has come to the forefront of my mind because of Dan in the pub" Archie tried to interrupt her but she carried on "he is treating me just like that boyfriend's of Mums did and the funny thing is, he even looks a little like him. I hate it most people would be able to shrug it off, give him a put down, but I find it so hard for some reason. I'm beginning to dread going to the pub, he makes my skin crawl and the thought of being involved with him on a business level just makes me feel sick."

"I know" said Archie taking hold of her hand "I was waiting for you to say something to me. He can't hurt you, you're in a different time and place now. He'll get the message soon and tire of what he is doing, he can see he is getting no where"

"but Arch for some men that is more of a challenge and I'm a married woman as well, and the other thing is on Saturday Margaret Mason made some comment about Dan's reputation and the fact I had better watch out"

"Lex you can get through this, laugh it off, give him a real put down, he'll get the message and you will be well on the way to being rid of your demons, you'll come out on top. I don't disbelieve you, I'm not your mother, I'm with you holding your hand metaphorically and physically, together we'll sort it out. I don't want to get into a confrontational situation with him, I will if I need to but I believe you can do this yourself, and it is important that you do. As for the business, we'll simply tell him we want to wait until we are up and running and established before we start to consider the option with the pub. As for Margaret she is so you say Jill said the village gossip, ignore her, she's not worth it and anyway if Dan is Margaret's cousin people will take whatever she says with a pinch of salt, family feuds and all that"

"Thanks Arch you're right" said Lexie smiling as she toyed with the food on her plate "I guess I just need to believe in myself a little more"

"You do, you are an incredibly strong and resilient woman, I just don't think you can always see it yourself, but maybe with a little help and encouragement from me you will."

Lexie looked up and smiled at him, picked up her wine glass and said "the future", Archie joined her in the toast, and added "to us and to becoming a family of more than two."

The food and the wine were exquisite and they spent the rest of the evening chatting about the future, parenthood, Banbridge and Glenbogle. As they finished Archie sat back and smiled lazily at Lexie "happy?" he asked her, as she began to slide the last chocolate into her mouth, "mm these chocolates are wonderful!" she replied, Archie laughed "I'll take that as a yes then, so Mrs Macdonald now that you have finished devouring those chocolates would you care to accompany me upstairs?" he asked taking hold of her hand.

"with pleasure" Lexie replied smiling.


	16. Part 16

**Part sixteen**  
  
"Now make sure you drive carefully," Lexie remarked while eyeing the familiar old land rover suspiciously.  
  
"Oh Lex this old bus isn't exactly going to break any speed limits you know." Duncan replied cheekily and grinned at her. "In fact I'm not sure I'll even get to Glenbogle before dark."  
  
"Well, all the same, you know what I mean. We can't have our new employee laid up in hospital when he's needed back here."  
  
"You worry too much. I'll be fine."  
  
"Oh, I almost forgot." Lexie pulled out a carrier bag from behind her back. "This is for you - for the journey. I put a flask of soup in there and I've made you a few of those 'nana sarnies. Urgh! I think you and Hector, bless him, must be the only people in the world to enjoy those. It is as much as I can do to just make them."  
  
"Thanks Lexie." Duncan pulled her towards him into a warm hug. "You know I think I'm really going to enjoy it here. I'm looking forward to coming back already."  
  
Neither of them noticed Archie emerge from the front door laden down with a variety of heavy looking bags. He struggled manfully towards the back of the land rover and chuckled to himself at the strange reversal of roles. There was a time at Glenbogle when Archie could clearly remember Duncan struggling with bags in the same way when they had guests.  
  
"So, anyone want to give me a hand here?"  
  
"Oh, sorry boss, er, Archie."  
  
A few minutes later and Duncan was sat in the land rover ready to leave. It hadn't escaped Archie and Lexie's attention that he didn't seem to be giving them his full attention. They had caught him looking over his shoulder a number of times.  
  
"Thanks so much Dunc. You've been a tower of strength. I really don't know how we'd have managed without your help. And as for that bed, I think we'd have been sleeping under the stars for the last two weeks without your know how."  
  
Archie reached through the window and gave Duncan a firm pat on the arm. Duncan looked a bit embarrassed. "Och, it was nothing. You'd have managed right fine without me but thanks for saying it."  
  
"That's not true Dunc. We're going to be counting the days to when you come back." Archie smiled at him.  
  
"Now don't forget to give everyone our love" said Lexie with a smile, "And make sure they know they're welcome anytime. I know we keep telling them over the phone but somehow I'm never quite sure they believe us."  
  
"Oh and for goodness sake try and get Golly to call me back sometime," interrupted Archie. Every time I ring he's either out or just doesn't answer. Perhaps we could even prise him out of Glenbogle one day to give us a visit." Archie paused and looked across at Duncan, "You know I think he's going to miss you when you come down here.  
  
"Och, you know me Arch," replied Duncan still looking around and over Archie's shoulders into vacant space.  
  
"That's what worries me," muttered Archie to himself as he stepped back from the window only to find his arm grabbed by Lexie and being propelled backwards towards the house.  
  
"Pretend you're checking the door," whispered Lexie.  
  
"What?"  
  
Archie gave her one of his blank looks. Lexie sighed, sometimes he could be so unaware.  
  
"Lucy's come to say goodbye," she whispered loudly.  
  
They both turned to see that Lucy had just walked in the gate and was standing by the car window talking to Duncan. They couldn't hear what was said but there was no mistaking the gentle kiss that they shared before she waved to them and was off round the corner again.  
  
"Short and sweet, eh, Dunc?" Lexie called across to him.  
  
Duncan had adopted his embarrassed look once again.  
  
"She was just passing actually. On her way to open up the pub so she couldn't stop." He paused. "Do you think she'll wait for me? For when I come back?"  
  
Archie and Lexie couldn't help laughing.  
  
"Well it's not as if you're going to be away for very long, is it?" Lexie responded, "You make it sound as if you're going to be away for ages rather than just a couple of weeks. If she can't wait that long then she probably isn't worth it. Right Arch?"  
  
"Oh, right, yeah," Archie replied. However his mind had skipped into a different train of thought and he could feel those guilty feelings growing inside him again. He stood next to a cheerful Lexie and waved Duncan off with a smile on his face but already he was becoming absorbed by the thought of what makes a man leave his gorgeous wife for months on end to travel half way round the world in order to fulfil some vague promise to his father. If he could not sort it out in his own mind how on earth could he explain it to Lexie and make amends. She really didn't deserve to have a husband like him.  
  
They watched as the land rover headed down the lane and turned the corner out of sight and then headed back into the house.  
  
"You know it's going to be a lot quieter round here without Duncan." Lexie sighed.  
  
"It was lovely to see Lucy come and say goodbye wasn't it? You know I think she's really serious about him and she seems like such a nice girl. You never know, Arch, maybe she could be the one to tame our Dunc. What do you think?"  
  
"Erm, yes, maybe." Archie murmured.  
  
Lexie turned to looked at her husband with an exasperated expression.  
  
"Archie!"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Archie Macdonald, have you been listening to a word I said?"  
  
Archie looked a little sheepish. "Something about taming?"  
  
"Oh Archie, for goodness sake. I was saying that Lucy and Duncan make a nice couple, don't you agree?"  
  
"Yes, yes, I suppose so. Look Lexie, I just need to pop out to the shop, I won't be long."  
  
Without waiting for her reply he hurried out of the door. Lexie stared after him. He was acting oddly at the moment she thought. In fact he hadn't truly been himself since their night away when they had talked things through and she thought they had managed to clear the air and move on. She wished she could put her finger on what the problem was now. He seemed preoccupied with something and she had often found him just standing around daydreaming. She wondered where exactly he was going and hoped that he wouldn't be long. Then she jumped as she remembered something and dashed out into the yard. Archie was just driving out.  
  
"Archie! Archie!" she yelled, and he glanced across at her without stopping.  
  
"Archie, don't forget we've got a meeting with Dan in the pub at eleven. You promised we'd go together."  
  
Archie gave her a quick wave as the car began to pick up speed.  
  
"Archie, remember, 11 o'clock at the pub," she shouted after the fast disappearing car.  
  
Lexie turned and went into the house. She had no idea whether he had heard her or not but could only hope that he had or would remember the meeting that they had arranged the previous week to discuss possible catering projects with Dan. He was keen to hire out one of the back rooms in the pub for small functions and had suggested that they market it as a package to include catering by 'Occasions and Celebrations'. Although she knew it was a good idea and they could do with the business she couldn't help but be put off somewhat by Dan's pushy attitude and his rather sleazy innuendos, which always seemed to be aimed at her.  
  
"You'd better be there, Archie Macdonald," she stated defiantly.  
  
Wanting to distract herself from worrying about either Dan or Archie, she wandered into the kitchen and noticed the hamster cage needed more water. She lifted Pickle out of his quite luxurious accommodation and popped him into the deep butler sink while she changed his water and put in some fresh food and a carrot to gnaw on. Pickle had been a present from her wayward father before he disappeared yet again and the name had seemed very appropriate. She had nearly lost the little rodent when he managed to escape once.  
  
She picked up Pickle and began stroking him. It was a familiar action for them both. When Archie had been away climbing mountains, she had often sat for hours stroking him on her lap. Somehow she felt comforted by it.  
  
Her thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of the telephone and she hastily placed the hamster back in his cage.  
  
"Hello, Occasions and Celebrations, can I help you?"  
  
She grimaced. "Oh, hello, Dan."  
  
It was the one person she did not want to hear and she was even more frustrated by his news that he wanted the meeting at the house rather than the pub because as he put it "we need to sit somewhere quiet and talk". She tried to put him off but he was remarkably persistent and there was no way she was going to let on that she was alone in the house at the moment.  
  
'Never mind' she told herself. 'I'll have to give Archie a ring and get him to come back early and not go to the pub.'  
  
As soon as Dan had rung off, she dialled Archie's mobile number. From a distant part of the house, probably their bedroom, she heard the familiar tones of his mobile phone.  
  
"Damn," she thought, "Double damn. What a day to leave your phone behind. Now what am I meant to do?"  
  
For the next half an hour Lexie paced around the house hoping that Archie would be back before Dan. She had even phoned the pub to try and put Dan off. Only to discover that he was out all morning and wouldn't be back until after lunch. So she left a message for them to redirect Archie when he turned up and continued with her fretting.  
  
She tried to work out why she was so freaked out by Dan. After all she didn't think he was actually going to jump on her, at least she hoped not. She had met people like him before and had always been able to cope by giving them the big put down, so why not now.  
  
Then it came to her. In this case she couldn't just give Dan a few cutting remarks and maybe slap him across the face if he got too cheeky. This was a man that they would have to do business with. He lived in the village. He ran the local pub, which was the main meeting place. He was in the centre of everything in the area and it would be a bad idea to make an enemy of him.  
  
"Come on girl, pull yourself together," she said to the mirror.  
  
Lexie heard a car pulling up outside and went to the window thinking for a moment that it might be Archie.  
  
" Damn, why does he have to be so early?" she said as she looked out and recognised Dan's red sports car.  
  
She marched out of the front door bravely.  
  
"Hi Dan, you're early. I'm afraid Archie isn't back yet but I'm sure he'll be here very soon."  
  
Dan grinned.  
  
"Well then, we'll have to make the most of the time we've got," he leered at her and headed in to the kitchen.  
  
"Actually Dan, why don't we sit at the picnic table. It's a shame to go inside when it's so lovely out here in the sunshine."  
  
He hesitated but duly obliged her by heading for the table outside. She waited until he had sat down and deliberately placed herself on the opposing side. Although she felt a little less threatened with the table between them she now felt the strength of his gaze fixed in her direction.  
  
The conversation continued in a rather aimless fashion for a few minutes before Dan leaned forward towards her.  
  
"You know you're a really pretty girl. I hope Archie appreciates that. If I were him, I would never leave you all alone in the big house like this. You never know who might call. You did say he wouldn't be long didn't you? Any idea when?"  
  
Lexie cursed Archie under her breath and prayed for salvation.  
  
Thankfully, God answered her prayers in the unlikely form of Jill's mother, Mary.  
  
She walked round the corner, wheeling her bicycle and carrying a collection tin for the local hospice. Before she got as far as saying anything she had taken in the body language of the two people in front of her.  
  
Lexie leapt up from the picnic table.  
  
"Oh, how lovely to see you Mary. I was only saying to Jill the other day that she must get you round here soon and now here you are. What have you been up to then – collecting for the hospice? Oh that's such a good cause. Wait there and I'll go and get some money for you."  
  
Lexie hesitated. She had to find a way of keeping Mary on the premises.  
  
"Actually, you do look a bit tired. I really think you ought to sit down and I'll go and make us a cup of something. Dan's here to talk to Archie and me about some catering jobs but Archie's running a bit late. So maybe you'd like a cup too Dan?"  
  
Dan shook his head and looked a little disconcerted as Mary smiled at Lexie.  
  
"Oh that would be lovely dear. A coffee would be much appreciated. I've been round most of the village now and everyone has been so generous, but it does get a bit tiring. Do you mind if I come in and look at your kitchen?" she said, seeing how obviously uncomfortable Lexie was. "Jill's told me all about it. I've always fancied an aga, myself."  
  
As Lexie led Mary into the kitchen, Dan stood up.  
  
"Look Lexie, as Archie's not back yet, maybe we'd better leave it until another time. I don't like leaving the pub at lunchtimes and I've a feeling it's going to be busy today. I'll give you both a call later in the week and we'll arrange it. OK?"  
  
"Yes that's fine Dan," she lied. "Sorry about Archie, but he went out in such a hurry I'm not sure if he remembered or not. I'll get him to call you. I'm afraid it was a wasted journey for you. Perhaps we'd better make it at the pub next time so that we don't waste your time."  
  
Dan said goodbye to Lexie and turned to Mary.  
  
"Nice seeing you again Mary."  
  
She did not return his offering of a handshake, but instead gave him a long hard look which caught him rather off guard.  
  
"Well Dan, I expect you have better things to do than hang around here with us. I hope all your family are well?" she added with some meaning in her voice.  
  
He looked a little startled before replying "Fine thanks" and left hurriedly.  
  
Mary turned to Lexie.  
  
"I hope you don't mind me inviting myself into your kitchen but when I came round that bend I thought you looked like you might need a bit of rescuing."  
  
Lexie wasn't sure quite what Mary knew about Dan so she was cautious in her reply.  
  
"Oh, I'm sure everything's fine. Besides Archie should be back soon. He knew we had a meeting planned. Anyway the kettle's boiling so shall we have that cup of coffee we were talking about?"  
  
Mary looked at Lexie.  
  
"Well dear, let's just say that Dan is not as popular with the villagers as you might think and I'm not the only one who could tell you that. Now, let's have a look at this aga of yours."  
  
The conversation turned away from Dan and on to things more culinary as Mary gave Lexie a few tips about some favourite recipes. Lexie found that she got on well with Mary. She was a friendly open person and Lexie could see where Jill got her good manners and humour from. In some ways she reminded her of Molly. They came from different backgrounds of course but they both had a hidden intelligence masked by a kind and gentle personality.  
  
Mary was still there half an hour later when a car drew up outside and Archie strolled into the kitchen.  
  
"Oh, hello, Mary? How are you feeling? Better I hope."  
  
"Yes, thank you Archie, much better," Mary replied.  
  
Archie turned to Lexie.  
  
"Do you fancy eating out for lunch?"  
  
She stared coldly back at him. "You forgot didn't you?"  
  
"Forgot? Forgot what?"  
  
"Em, I think I'd best be getting back. I have to call in and pick up Emily from playgroup. Nice to see you Archie. I expect we'll run into each other again."  
  
She picked up her collecting tin and headed for the door. As she passed Archie she gave him a particularly meaningful look.  
  
"Now you make sure you look after this young lady," she said as she disappeared through the door.  
  
Archie was somewhat confused and looked at Lexie.  
  
"What was all that about?"  
  
"You really don't remember do you?"  
  
"Tell me," he implored.  
  
"Well while you were off to lord knows where your friend Dan decided to move our meeting – yes, the one you arranged – to here. I was left to entertain him and all I can say is that I'm very grateful that Mary turned up when she did. You know how I feel about that creep."  
  
Lexie's pent up tension was beginning to show itself as she continued.  
  
"What's the matter with you at the moment. Your head seems to be in the clouds. You need to pull yourself together and start thinking about other people for a change. Surely you heard me yelling to you this morning. How are we supposed to run a business if you keep forgetting appointments and wandering off?"  
  
Archie could only respond with one of his little boy looks and a "sorry".  
  
"Well sometimes Archie sorry just isn't enough." Lexie shouted and stormed out of the kitchen.  
  
Archie grimaced as he heard the bedroom door slam.


	17. Part 17

**PART 17**

"Well what did he say?" Lexie asked

"well he wasn't that impressed, but I simply said we wanted to wait until the business was up and running before we even began to think about food for the pub"

"mmm well, I'll be happy if we never provide food for the pub"

"yes but Lex we have to think about this from a business point of view, and not let emotions get in the way"

"huh that is all very well for you to say"

" I know Lex but"

"yes, yes the business I know" she said smiling "anyway thanks Arch for going to see Dan and sorting it out" Lexie said as she gave him a fleeting kiss, as she did she could feel him shrinking away from her, puzzled she dismissed it, thinking it must be in her imagination, then she looked at his face and saw he had a far away look in his eyes.

They had achieved a kind of tentative truce after the incident the previous day, when Archie had left Lexie on her own with Dan, but she sensed that was just symptomatic, there was much more to his distance than that.

"come on Arch" she said taking hold of his hand "we've got more decorating to do"

"you go on up, I'll join you in a few minutes just need to put some paperwork away"

"ok.......you alright Arch?"

"yes, shall I bring some tea up?"

"mmm please"

Lexie made her way upstairs, Archie sat down in the temporary office in the junk room. His mind drifting as he sorted the paperwork, the guilt creeping up on him again, about leaving Lexie. He wished he could dismiss these thoughts about letting her down, at least he had been able to sort Dan out, he could have kicked himself for having left her with him the previous day. He still though hadn't got his head round Lexie's revelation about thinking she had been pregnant, but then discovering she wasn't and how her body had physically reacted to her emotions. Oh snap out of it, he told himself, she's got over it and moved on, so must you. Wearily Archie got up and made his way into the kitchen to make two mugs of tea.

Archie made the tea and wandered upstairs, he stood for a few moments in the doorway of one of the spare bedrooms watching Lexie painting as she sang along to the radio. He suddenly felt overwhelmed by her presence, as if sensing she was being watched Lexie turned and smiled at him, he just about registered her voice, which sounded so distant

"come on Arch start getting creative with your paintbrush" she teased

he smiled at her, handed her the mug of tea, picked up his brush and walked over to the far wall. Lexie was once again baffled by Archie's behaviour, having noticed he wasn't really with her and had decided to ignore it rather as you would a child, hoping he would snap out of it and come back to reality or at the very least talk to her.

"Archie, ARCHIE! Have you been listening to me or are you away in fairy land again or do you simply not want to rise to the challenge" Lexie said half teasing and half exasperated

"what was that you said Lex"

"oh Archie get with it, I said we are having a competition to see who can finish their wall first"

Archie stood for a few moments with a lost expression on his face, then as if something clicked in his brain. he was back in reality, the guilt appeared to abate

"hang on Lex, that's not fair, you started before me" he looked at her dolefully, Lexie laughed

"well you better get cracking then hadn't you slacker"

"slacker? who are you calling a slacker"

"you!"

"right that does it" he said as he moved across the room and grabbed Lexie and began tickling her, she giggled, he caught her round the waist, they were face to face he was about to kiss her, when he stopped and a blank expression appeared on his face, he seemed unable to move. Lexie looked at him, but it was almost as if he couldn't see her, she reached out and traced her hand down the side of his face

"Archie what's wrong, you've not been yourself for days, tell me"

"nothing Lex I'm fine, just need to make sure I win this painting competition" and he turned back to the painting, leaving Lexie a little bewildered in the middle of the room.

He knew that sooner or later, he was going to have to explain how he was feeling, but at the moment every time they were close, all he could see in his mind was her face contorted with anguish, anguish he had caused.

They continued to paint in an uneasy silence, the radio providing some respite from the tense atmosphere. After about an hour, Lexie could stand it no longer, she put down her paintbrush and wandered over to Archie

"and currently in second place Archie Macdonald, is making good progress but, oh and he's missed a bit, and he still has about a third of his wall to paint, the question is will he make up time and catch up his wife"

"what did you say Lex?"

"oh Arch I give up, my wit and humour is wasted on you! I've almost finished I'm going to clean up and make supper, maybe by then you'll be back from where ever you are and wow me with your scintillating conversation!"

As she left the room her words 'wasted on you' reverberated like a stuck record round Archie's head, she had said what he was thinking she was wasted on him , too good for him, ok so maybe he was taking it out of context but she said it.

Lexie stood back and looked at the table everything was ready, the dishes laid out candles lit, the flour tortillas warming in the oven and the chicken ready to go, she smiled and hoped this would help Archie relax. She had no idea what was up with him, he seemed to have withdrawn from her, but maybe an easy relaxed meal where they could chat, might work hence the choice of Chicken Fajitas.

She got the wine from the 'fridge, "Arch its ready" she called out

Archie walked into the kitchen "Lex I'm not hungry think I'll give supper a miss"

Lexie glared at him "well thanks for telling me _after_ I've prepared and cooked a meal, Archie Macdonald you are so thoughtless and selfish sometimes, well I guess it'll end up in the bin, honestly you've been in this strange mood, I've tried to cajole you, I've waited for you to explain, I've put up with it and quite frankly I've had enough, fine don't eat, starve for all I care, just suit yourself seems to be what you want to do lately anyway, you aren't interested in me at all it seems" she retorted angrily.

Archie just stood in the doorway and said "think I'll go and watch some television"

Lexie stared at his retreating head, sank down on a chair, resting her elbows on the table with her head in her hands, and began to cry. She just couldn't understand what was up with Archie, he just wouldn't talk to her, he'd always talked to her, what had she done wrong.

Archie slumped in front of the television, just hating himself. He knew he'd been unreasonable, he knew he was hurting and being unfair to Lexie, but he just couldn't escape from the thought that he didn't deserve her. The guilt about the pain he caused her by going to Nepal was all consuming, and when she did something like the special meal tonight it just made it worse.

Lexie tried desperately to work out what had triggered the mood in Archie. She smiled through the tears remembering the wonderful night they had spent at the Cheviot Valley Hotel just over a week ago, he'd been fine then, in fact better than fine, she smiled again at the memories, but the memory just made the pain worse and tears began to fall again.

Archie thought about Lexie, why he loved her, how much he loved her, all that they had shared together, he was disturbed from his reverie by the smell of her perfume, he looked up she was standing in the doorway, her face tear stained.

"Arch I'm going up to bed"

"ok, um Lex"

"yes" she responded turning back to face him

"oh nothing"

She turned back and he could hear her make her way upstairs. He wanted to go and wipe her tear stained face, to hug her and tell her everything would be fine. What was stopping him? His own guilt. He thought again about what she said that night in the restaurant, about moving forward and the future with all its possibilities, she was right. He was being a fool letting the actions of the past, spoil the present, when they had no bearing on the here and now, he'd been wallowing in self pity. He stood up and made his way upstairs. As he walked into their bedroom, Lexie was facing away from him, curled up and he could hear her softly crying. He walked round the bed and crouched down beside her, reaching out he stroked her hair

"Lex, Lexie, I'm so sorry"

she focussed her eyes on his

"Archie I I don't understand" she gulped fighting back the tears

Kneeling up, he put his arms round her awkwardly hugging her, kissing her head he began to explain his behaviour

"oh Arch, why didn't you talk to me" Lexie responded lifting her face to look at him

"I was as you would say thinking like a tree stump" Lexie smiled at him, he continued "until I realised, as usual you were right, in what you said in the restaurant about moving forward and looking to the future"

Lexie reached out and brushed her hand down his face "Arch I wondered what I had done, I couldn't understand what was going on in your head"

"you'd done nothing apart from being you, but it's probably best not to know the workings of my mind , sometimes I don't know what is going on in my head myself" he replied smiling now sitting on the bed next to her.

Lexie put her head on one side, smiled at him "oh come here you" she said enveloping him in a hug, they lay back against the pillows, half propped up "Arch, I don't think this is the end of it though, you still feel like you need to make amends am I right?" she asked

"no, um yes, oh I don't know, it's just trying to resolve in my head the consequences of my actions, but maybe they won't be resolved, but then again I suppose they are" Archie stopped "Lex am I making any sense?"

"a little, what exactly do you want to resolve and how do you think you can do that?"

"well I went to Nepal for Lizzie, for Jamie and for father, it seemed an important thing to do at the time, I think I was trying to build bridges and heal some wounds, but in all honesty did I really need to go to Nepal to do that?"

"well whether you did or didn't, you went"

"you didn't think I needed to go did you?"

"well it wasn't so much that, for me it was you putting everyone else before us, I was totally unprepared for that, but if you want me to be honest, no I didn't think you needed to go so far away, there was a moment when I hated Lizzie, I hated Hector and I hated Jamie for taking you away from me"

"but you didn't hate me?"

"no my anger was aimed at them not you, I couldn't be angry with you, that was too hard, after you'd gone I had to hold onto how much I loved you"

Archie pulled her towards him in a half hug

"I'm so sorry"

"I know you are Archie, but if you keep beating yourself up over what happened, behave as you have been over the past week, it makes everything worse. When I said the other day it was over and we move forward I meant it, but it only works if you think that too, and believe in our marriage and do you Arch? I can't do it on my own, it won't work"

Lexie's question hung in the air, the silence palpable, finally Archie responded "well I know I love you and am very much in love with you and I know that you feel the same about me. I know I want to be with you forever, and I want to share with you the future we have mapped out together, children, this house, the life we are building here, the business, so the answer to your question is yes" he turned and smiled at her "oh Lex I've been an idiot, got myself all muddled and in a state when the answer was so simple"

"finally, oh Archie Macdonald that head of yours"

"but you still love me despite my head"

"yes and I'm probably clinically insane! but Archie seriously you have to stop feeling guilty, you have nothing to feel guilty about, and you must promise me if you ever do again about all this you will talk to me and not bottle it up inside, promise"

"I promise sweetheart, oh Lex if only you could read my mind"

"well Arch I think maybe sometimes I can, did you know your head is telling you right now what Lexie would like you to do..."

"yes um no um yes"

Lexie rolled her eyes at Archie, looking at him meaningfully

"oh really I think I know" Archie said smiling

"mmm, perhaps you need a little reminder" she said as she began to slide her hands inside his shirt

"oh I think I am remembering" he replied as he leaned in kissing her neck and began to gently easing down the straps of her night dress.


	18. Part 18

Part 18 

Archie carefully placed the laden breakfast tray down on the bedside table, making sure that he did nothing to waken his sleeping wife. There was a slight rattle from a teacup and he froze. Lexie turned restlessly in her sleep and then settled again. Archie softly crept round the end of the bed and gently slid back in. He propped his head up with a pillow and turned to gaze at her. There was never the time to just stop and stare at her during the day and she would have soon made some joke about where his mind was heading if he had.

He continued to contemplate her sleeping face. He never got bored like this just watching Lexie sleep. He knew all her little mannerisms, such as when she rolled over and always ruffled her hair and when she was dreaming her face retold the story and her nose twitched. There was nothing better than lying next to Lexie and seeing her wake up first thing in the morning. She would start with a long stretch followed by a gentle little smile as she came to and realised where she was. When she finally opened her eyes and looked at him they always had a delicious twinkle in them that he found hard to resist.

For much of his life Archie had been lonely, though he hadn't always realised it - not until Lexie had made an appearance. She just seemed to make everything in life so much clearer and simpler. Somewhere in his life, he reflected, he must have done something very good to be rewarded with someone like her.

Archie snuggled down closer to Lexie. She turned over to face him and he could see she was now waking. She gave him that smile that made him feel like the luckiest man in the world.

"What are you smirking at?" she said as she caught his expression.

"You."

"Right," said Lexie as she gave him a playful punch, "You know I find it quite disconcerting having my husband smirk at me when I wake up in the morning." She giggled and ruffled Archie's hair.

"Oh, well, in that case Mrs Macdonald, I don't suppose you want this lovely breakfast in bed that I just made you," Archie teased as he grabbed a piece of toast and waved it above Lexie's head. He reached up, tore a bit off and started to nibble it.

Lexie had to think quickly for a solution. She propped herself up in the bed and leaned forward enticingly to plant a kiss on his chest (the nearest thing she could reach). "Come here, my man".

He leaned down to give her a more passionate kiss on the mouth and momentarily dropped his guard. She made a grab for the piece of toast and slumped back against the pillows, daintily picking at the piece of toast in aristocratic fashion.

She looked coyly up at Archie. "Thank you Archie. You know I think I should make up with you more often if I'm to be rewarded with service like this."

Archie had to admit defeat on this occasion and, sitting himself next to her on the bed, pulled out a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket.

"What's that Arch?"

"It's another letter from Lizzie. It arrived this morning."

"Ooh, what's she got to say? Come on, read it out."

"Well there's not a lot really but I'll read it to you."

Archie flattened out the piece of paper in front of him and read aloud.

"How's my little brother and sister-in-law.

Just a quick note to tell you everything is working out well here in beautiful France. What on earth made you settle for cold wet Northumbria when you could have joined us down here? Anyway Martha has settled well into school so I've got more time to spend on Le Plat du Jour. It's all looking good – we had to turn away customers for the first time last week so I guess word is spreading. You were right about keeping the menu simple and concentrating on the freshest produce. All that advice you gave me when we were in Nepal is certainly paying off.

Talking of Nepal, I never really appreciated it until recently, what a tough decision you had to make back then. It was easy for me. I knew Martha's father wanted to take her off my hands for a while but tearing you away from your new wife was probably a bit cruel on my part. Sorry Lex. Thanks for letting me borrow him. We had a whale of a time and settled a good few things that should have been sorted a long time ago.

The main point of this letter is to thank you for the dress you sent over for Martha's birthday. She just adores it and I can't get her out of it.

I'm sure it is you, Lexie, that chose it – I know something of my brother's dress sense. She has sent you a little picture of herself in it. You'd both love her at the moment. She insists on showing off her French and keeps saying things to me that she knows I don't understand yet. I don't know if she is swearing at me or telling me the time of day.

Have to go now. Am off to check out one of our local growers who says his asparagus is the finest to be got. We'll see. As I've said before do try and give us a visit soon.

All our love,

Lizzie and Martha"

"Aagh, that's nice," said Lexie, "Can I have a look at the picture?"

Archie passed her Martha's picture which she perused carefully.

"You know this is really very good Arch. I think she's going to be quite artistic when she grows up. That's definitely one for the fridge." She handed the paper back to Archie who looked at it and then carefully laid it on the dressing table. They both munched on their toast thoughtfully.

Lexie was the first to break the silence.

"Do you ever wonder what would have happened if you hadn't gone to Nepal with Lizzie?"

Archie thought for a while.

"Well I suppose a lot of things would have been different. I might never have made that decision to break away from Glenbogle, you wouldn't have suffered because of my leaving, Lizzie and I would never have become close again and we would never have found ourselves running a catering business in Northumbria."

"So can't you see Archie? There have been so many positive things coming out of that trip. Yes, I know I found things very difficult for a while but if you try and overlook that, can't you see that it was all for the good in the end. Look at the relationship you have with Lizzie now. She writes to you all the time and wants to let you into her life. She would never have dreamt of having you to stay in the old days. And come on now, you have to admit you are much happier now you have broken away from Glenbogle."

Archie had to agree that she had a point. Life for them both was certainly more positive these days.

He began to whistle to himself as they both got themselves ready to face the rest of the morning.

"If we put a new window on the wall next to the kitchen and then open up the space on the right then we could knock a door through over there so that we could get better access to the house."

"I see where you're coming from Arch, but …" Lexie leaned on Archie's shoulder, twiddling her pencil restlessly between her fingers as she screwed her eyes up and tried to imagine what the new office might look like.

" … if we did that wouldn't it spoil the overall look of the barn?"

They continued discussing their plans for the conversion of the barn. They were planning to create an office next to the newly installed industrial kitchen but they were finding it difficult to visualise. As one of them came up with an idea the other would find reasons against it and vice versa. Their thoughts were suddenly interrupted by….

"Boo!!!" 

Lexie and Archie both jumped almost a foot in the air.

"Sorry. Couldn't resist it when I saw you so deep in thought. You both looked like you were on another planet," laughed Matt, who had crept up behind them.

"Hi Matt, you're just the man we're after," said Archie, "Have you got any good ideas for us?"

"We just seem to be at a complete loss with this," added Lexie. "Obviously we want it to look welcoming but still quite professional. And ideally we want to have an office area and a reception area where we can offer people a coffee and let them relax and chat about what they want."

"The trouble is I don't think we've got enough space in there for that," commented Archie. "We've been thinking we might have to use part of the house as well but we don't really want to."

"Hmm, well let me take a look." Matt peered across at the part of the barn earmarked for the conversion, "Just give me a few minutes. I might have a solution for you."

Archie and Lexie watched as Matt inspected the building. He looked at the walls and stared at the roof for a long time before getting out a tape measure and jotting down some figures on his notepad. Eventually he wandered back to the couple with a smile on his face.

"You're right about it being a tight squeeze to get everything into that space but instead of going sideways how about going up?"

"Up. What do you mean?" asked Archie.

"Well the building isn't all that wide but take another look at it. It does have height – most barns do. There's nothing to stop you building another floor in there – maybe a sort of gallery arrangement. It would give you so much more space and keep the office area upstairs while the ground floor could have some soft seating for entertaining clients. If you put a window in the roof there would be plenty of light. I've looked at the walls and I'm pretty sure that it's viable. Shouldn't be any need for planning permission, just building regulations, so we could get on with it pretty quickly."

He paused and looked at them. "Well, what do you think? Is that anything like you had in mind?"

Archie and Lexie glanced at each other then back at Matt's enthusiastic face.

Lexie grinned. "Wow, Matt. That's amazing, absolutely perfect, isn't it Arch?"

"Sure is. Matt, you're a genius." Said Archie stepping forward to clap Matt on the back.

"Actually, I thought of it the other week when I was over here but I needed to check it out first to make sure it could work."

"Well I think it's fabulous. When can we start?" Lexie enthused.

"How about I do a few calculations while I'm here and take a few measurements. Then I should be able to give you a rough estimate and maybe sketch out a few of the details for you," suggested Matt.

"Great," said Archie. "I'll give you a hand if you like."

For the next half an hour or so Archie helped Matt measure up and then they headed back into the house to find Lexie.

Matt showed them all his calculations and they were pleasantly surprised at his estimate of the final bill. Because most of his work was done in that area he would be able to put them in touch with a reliable local builder and oversee most of the project himself.

Archie and Matt shook hands over the deal. Archie looked across at Lexie.

"I know it's a bit early but how about a drink to celebrate? Have we got anything for lunch Lex?"

"Sorry Arch. You were supposed to go shopping, remember?" 

"Oh well, we'll have to go somewhere else then. You'll join us won't you Matt?"

"Of course Archie. Shall we pop down to the pub? I happen to know that they've got steak and kidney pie on special today and it's my favourite.

Jill can't stand it so I don't often get the chance."

Archie looked over at Lexie. "Is that all right Lex?" 

"Well if you two don't mind sorting things out between yourselves, I wouldn't mind popping into town for an hour or so. I got a phone call from the shop yesterday to say those curtains are ready for picking up and while I'm there I could see if I can match them up with some cushions.

Archie knew that she had been planning to go later in the week but understood her preferring to go into town rather than risk the possibility of meeting up with Dan.

"Oh, I'm sure we'll be able to manage, won't we Matt?

"Of course, but we will miss you Lexie?" Matt agreed. Archie and Matt headed for the door as Lexie went to grab her handbag. 


	19. Part 19

PART 19

Well it's now or never thought Lexie as she went to pick up the phone

to dial her mother in Glasgow. They hadn't spoken since she and Archie had

moved to Northumbria, but then it wasn't entirely her fault, as Pamela

and Eric spent more time out of the country than in these days. She had

decided to take the opportunity whilst Archie was out collecting an order at

the printers. Lexie had just begun to dial the number when she heard the

sound of a lorry reversing outside, glancing out of the window she saw it had

stopped outside the house, putting down the phone she went to

investigate.

Archie smiled to himself as he drove into Banbridge, and glanced at the

bags resting on the passenger seat, he hoped Lexie would be as delighted as

he was with his surprise. As he neared the house he saw the lorry parked

outside and various boxes being carried into the yard. He pulled up and

got out of the car "oh Arch thank goodness you're back, this is all the stuff we ordered

for the industrial kitchen, there seems to be so much, are you sure we

ordered all this?" Lexie asked anxiously

"well you know how things get packed with lots of space around them,

don't worry Lex I'm sure it is all ours, we just need to check everything off

against our purchase order forms"

They dragged the first box into the catering kitchen, and as Lexie took

the items out of the box, Archie checked them off against the list. As all

the unpacked equipment began to stack up, Archie made a suggestion

"ok we need to be more methodical, otherwise we are going to end up in

a mess, we need to start putting everything away, I suggest in the

cupboards next to the ovens we put all the saucepans, fish kettles, roasting

tins, baking trays etc, then the next one along oven proof dishes. Mixing

bowls and measuring jugs need to go near the work surfaces, as do chopping

boards, pastry boards, mmm now all the utensils" Archie stopped mid flow as he

glanced around the room, Lexie was standing in the middle of the room

looking somewhat bewildered, she groaned

"argh this is all so I don't know clinical and professional, I'm not

used to cooking in a kitchen like this" she pouted

Archie laughed at the expression on her face "well we are professionals

remember, this is our working space, the kitchen in the house is about

us"

"mmm but its coloured chopping boards, one colour for fish, one for

meat, one for vegetables, all this health and safety rubbish, I never gave

anyone food poisoning at Glenbogle, it's so dull" Lexie moaned as she trailed

her fingers along the work top miserably

"Lex how can you say its dull when we have these to wear" Archie said

as he donned a white hat, coat and gloves

"you look like you are about to carry out a medical procedure dressed

like that or else you are contaminated with some deadly disease" Lexie

smiled

"your turn" said Archie as he placed a white hat on Lexie's head, "oh

cheer up Lex this isn't like you to be all in the doldrums, what's up?"

Archie added giving her a quick squeeze

"oh I don't know, it's just, well it just doesn't seem like us, its not

warm and cosy, its cold and clinical"

"but sweetheart it has to be like that, we have to get approval from

environmental health and once it becomes a working environment it will

improve"

"I know I know....... I was just being all wistful about the kitchen at

Glenbogle, silly really as we have that gorgeous kitchen in the house,

I suppose it's memories really. I have so many associated with that

kitchen, good, bad, happy and sad, I know we'll create loads in our kitchen in

the house, I suppose we have already really" Lexie smiled

Archie smiled in response "but the memories live on as long as you

remember them, and we are adding new ones all the time"

"ooo listen to you going all deep on me, ok memories then Glenbogle

kitchen your favourite memory what is it?"

"easy the chocolate cake incident" Archie laughed

"mmm I never got that chocolate stain off that skirt" Lexie added

laughing"well it was your fault for looking gorgeous and irresistible and for

leaving that cake on the edge of the table"

"well if you had controlled yourself and not pushed me onto the table

in the first place...."

"ok ok but you have to admit it was enjoyable......so what's yours?"

Lexie pondered "mmm well I guess after the midsummer ball when you in

your clumsy way proposed to me, a girl always dreams of it being romantic,

but not where Archie Macdonald is concerned, I know I know you were tongue

tied and nervous, but as I've said before despite all that, it was well you

know"

"you know Lex there is always something I have wondered"

"mmmm"

"you know how you were holding that pile of plates, how come you never

dropped them?"

"I don't know I've never really thought about, I suppose I was so taken

aback I kind of froze, anyway enough of this reminiscing we need to get

back to work!"

"you sure you don't want to take a break and create some memories"

Archie asked with a glint in his eye

"now Archie what were you saying? this is a professional work space and

Jill and Matt are coming over in a couple of hours for supper and to talk

about the pig roast and barbecue for the May Fayre"

"ok ok slave driver" Archie responded smiling as he kissed her

fleetingly.

Eventually everything in the catering kitchen was organised and sorted

to their satisfaction and they began to wander across the yard back to the

house. As they wandered into the kitchen, they collapsed onto the sofa

"phew I'm exhausted" Lexie commented

"tea?"

"mmm please, actually no I think I'll go and have a quick shower and

get changed before Jill and Matt arrive"

"want me to join you?!"

"ARCHIE! I said a quick shower, anyway you said you'd cook tonight so

you better get started"

"fine spoil my fun, I'll just go and slave over a hot stove then"

Lexie laughed "go on, go and create some culinary delight"

As soon as Lexie had left the kitchen, Archie retrieved his bag of

shopping from the junk room, and pulled out a recipe book entitled 'Healthy

Meals for Mums To Be'. The strap line said the book contained recipes especially

for women who were hoping to conceive and for those newly pregnant. Archie

smiled to himself and sat down flicking through the book, unfortunately

he didn't have many ingredients to hand, but knew that folic acid was

important and calcium. Archie decided to cook something with green beans and

spinach which were rich in folic acid and hard cheese and yoghurt which were

rich in calcium. He decided to make a folic acid and calcium friendly quiche

and serve it with salad and new potatoes.

He hid the book behind the toaster and got started on the short crust

pastry for the quiche. He was just rolling out the pastry when there was a

knock at the door, it was Jill and Matt.

As they settled down with a drink Lexie walked in

"sorry we've been sorting out the catering kitchen and I just had to

have a shower, anyway how are you both?"

"fine thanks, and Emily is very upset we were coming to see you and she

wasn't invited" Jill replied smiling

"oh dear what it is to be popular" Lexie laughed

"so Archie what are you cooking then" asked Matt as he wandered over to

the aga

"oh um nothing special just a quiche"

"quiche??" Lexie said with a puzzled expression on her face "quiche,

you don't make quiche Archie"

"well I am tonight, anyway aren't we supposed to be discussing the May

Fayre catering?"

Lexie exchanged a look with Jill and raised her eyebrows "yes indeed we

are husband dearest, so where shall we begin you two done this before"

Lexie asked Jill and Matt

"well no but I spoke with Fred and Joe in the butchers and they

provided the order last year, so I asked for a repeat order this year" Matt

explained

"great and does that include the pig?" Lexie inquired

"sure does Lex and I've got a mate who can loan us a spit and

apparently Margaret and her team do all the rolls and sauces etc so we are sorted"

"so is that the end of our discussion as you've got it all sorted Matt"

"guess it is, so now we can get down to the serious business of the

evening, checking to see if you and Archie are any good at cooking" Matt teased

"Matt honestly" Jill chastised him

"I was merely jesting" he replied

"well you can see for yourselves now as its ready" Archie told them

They all sat round the table as Archie served the quiche, as he cut

into it, liquid oozed out creating a soggy mess mixed with curdled yoghurt.

Lexie looked at Archie

"Arch um what is this and um do we have to eat it?"

After Jill and Matt left having eaten a supper of cheese on toast,

Lexie sat Archie down

"Right Archie Macdonald what is going on that meal was a disaster were

you trying to poison us all? And don't give me that innocent puppy dog eyes

look, I know when you are up to something, now talk"

"ok right well, you know, look hang on a second" Archie dashed out to

the junk room and came back with a carrier bag. Lexie looked at him

expectantly

"I got these for you, for us like I said I would" Archie stated as he

took out of the bag two books on pregnancy and a dictionary of children's

names, he waited for Lexie to respond, she said nothing "oh and this he added"

retrieving the recipe book from behind the toaster.

"I wanted to make something tonight from this book, but we didn't have

all the ingredients so I um improvised but well it didn't really work"

Lexie smiled at him, she realised from this gesture he had listened to

what she had said about wanting his support and for him to be with her every

step of the way. Such a simple thing really but spoke volumes.

"thanks Arch, thanks for listening to me and understanding and helping

me not be scared" she hugged him tightly and he hugged her back, then he

lent back a little took her face in his hands and kissed her. After a while

he released her and bent down to pick up a smaller bag

"oh and these too"

"pregnacare vitamin and mineral supplements especially for mothers

preparing to conceive and who are pregnant" Lexie read from the label on the pot,

she looked at Archie and raised her eyebrows at him

"and this" he added pulling a thermometer out of the bag

Lexie burst into laughter "oh Arch we don't need that"

"but I thought"

"no no we only need to use the thermometer if I have problems getting

pregnant"

"oh I see"

"you bampot" she said kissing him

"of course we'll both need to see the doctor" she added wickedly "me to

check about coming off the pill, my blood pressure etc and you to make

sure you are up to the job, full medical for you sunny Jim"

"what" Archie spluttered " a full medical to make sure I'm up to the

job, you are joking"

"no!"

"but that's ludicrous I....."

"GOT YA" Lexie giggled

"right Lexie Macdonald you've done it now"

Archie made a grab for her, but she was too quick and dashed round the

other side of the kitchen table, Archie chased after her and eventually

grabbed her round the waist, and began to tickle her

"no Archie stop please" Lexie giggled

"ok but no more teasing"

"ok and no more disgusting quiche"

"quits"

"quits"

They smiled at each other, "you thinking what I'm thinking" Archie

asked her

"mmm depends what you're thinking"

"chocolate cake"

"me too" she replied pulling him forcefully down onto the sofa.


	20. Part 20

**Part 20**  
  
"Well today's the day," announced Archie over breakfast.  
  
"Oh, you don't think he's going to find anything wrong do you? We've been over everything three times at least and with the amount we've spent on advice and new equipment he can't possibly find fault with it …. can he?" Lexie looked anxiously at him.  
  
Today was going to be the last hurdle before they could finally get the business up and running. The local health inspector was due at 2 o'clock to make the final inspection of the premises and give them the necessary permission … or not. They had been busy the day before cleaning and scrubbing until the stainless steel surfaces shone. Everything looked spotless and was all laid out according to the guidelines with different zones to keep the fresh and raw food away from the cooked and prepared dishes. What could possibly go wrong?  
  
Archie grinned back at her. "Now you know everything will be fine. Have I ever told you that you're a great organiser. We would never have been ready in time if it had been left to me."  
  
" Now that's not true," exploded Lexie, "what about all the negotiations with the kitchen installers? I could never have handled them when some of the stuff didn't turn up. They needed to be shaken up a bit and you were the person to do it."  
  
She gave him a cheeky look which he always found hard to resist. He wrapped his arms around her and gave her a tender peck on the cheek before resting his chin thoughtfully on her shoulder. "Well let's just say it was a joint effort then" he said.  
  
"Yes, let's." she replied as she smiled up at him. "But I think we'd better just take another look to make sure it's alright and I still have to wash the floor over again when we've finished."  
  
"OK then, no time like the present," he responded.  
  
Suddenly the phone rang.  
  
"Hang on a minute. I'll just go and answer that," said Lexie.  
  
"Oh, leave it Lex."  
  
"Now, that's not very businesslike Archie. It might be a client and we haven't got the answer machine hooked up at the moment."  
  
She took a deep breath and using her most cultured tones spoke into the mouthpiece.  
  
"Good morning. Occasions and Celebrations. Can I help you?"  
  
"Och, damn, it's a wrong number. Oh, sorry love, didn't mean to swear at you. I was after ma daughter and I obviously got a wrong number. Sorry to have bothered you. I'll just get my husband to find the right number for me and I can try again."  
  
The female and very Scottish voice at the end of the phone line then let out an ear piercing yell … "Er …… ic, come and find me this phone number again."  
  
Lexie smiled and rolled her eyes. "Mum. It's me."  
  
"What's that love?"  
  
"Mother, it's me, Lexie. Your own flesh and blood. You just didn't recognise my voice."  
  
"Lexie, is that you?"  
  
"Yes, mum."  
  
"Oh, ma poor wee girl. You sound so different. It's that Archie Macdonald giving you the airs and graces now isn't it?"  
  
"Oh no mother," replied Lexie with a giggle as she lapsed back into her rich Glasgow accent. "Did I sound all posh then? I was trying to impress any potential clients who rang up and I've been a bit worried some of them may not understand my accent."  
  
"Well you sound fine enough as you are pet. And who are these clients then? Have you opened a shop or something. Molly didn't say anything about a shop."  
  
"Oh, have you spoken to Molly? How is she? I owe her a phone call."  
  
"She's bonny dear. We had a good old natter together. I had to ring her to get your number and then I gave it to Eric look after and then he lost it and then we found it again in his other wallet and …"  
  
She paused for breath and Lexie realised that this might be a long conversation. Her mother only rang her once in a blue moon but when she did then there was no stopping her. She waved across to Archie hovering in the doorway and mouthed "Mother" at him as if he hadn't already guessed. Archie nodded and indicated that he was heading outside. He knew it was best to just leave them to it.  
  
Lexie was already deep in conversation with her mother. After the initial pleasantries, when it was established that both Archie and Eric were both in very good health and spirits, the mutual interrogation began with Pamela taking the lead.  
  
Pamela had married Lexie's stepfather Eric only a few years earlier and to an outsider they were as different as chalk and cheese. But they brought out the best in each other and with his money and her 'get up and go' attitude they had embraced a hedonistic lifestyle ever since. They were constantly travelling and Lexie had found it difficult to keep in contact, having to leave messages in far flung locations in the hope that it would reach them. Half of them didn't so there was a lot of catching up to do.  
  
Lexie told her mother about the difficult decision that she and Archie had had to make about upping sticks and leaving Glenbogle, and how she was now realising that it was the best thing that could have happened. She also blessed Jolyon for having left them enough money to establish themselves in this beautiful house and begin their own business. He and Pamela had always had a soft spot for each other and Pamela and Eric had even been out to visit him in Africa before he died.  
  
"He was a lovely man," sighed Pamela. "A complete eccentric, but lovely all the same. Now then, tell me about this shop of yours then."  
  
Lexie tried again to describe to her mother what was actually involved in their catering business but sensed that most of the information was flowing over her mother's head.  
  
"Well now you know what I'm doing tell me where you've been hiding out. Last time I had an address you were in South Africa. I take it you're back from there now."  
  
"Would you listen to the girl. We left there about … let me see …. four or five months ago. Now where did we go after that? Oh, yes, we had about a month in Mauritius and then we went to stay with Ken and Marlene – they're this lovely couple that we met in South Africa. They're from Florida and they have a fantastic little residence in the middle of the Florida Keys with a pool and everything. Well we got on so well that we just kind of stayed and stayed. In fact we only came back now because they had their daughter and her family coming to stay."  
  
Lexie established that Pamela and Eric were back in their Glasgow bungalow but apparently not for long. They were already planning their next trip and just had to decide between New Zealand and Japan before they would inevitably lose contact for another few months. Lexie's mother had always had this restlessness about her and even when they were living in the poverty of a back street tenement in Glasgow she had always strived to get out and explore whenever she could, particularly when there was a new man in tow.  
  
Pamela was now getting into full throttle and at times like this there was no stopping her. When she had given Lexie a full account of what they had been up to in nearly every minute of the last six months, she spent as much time or more telling her of all the plans that she and Eric had for their adventures ahead. Lexie settled herself down on some cushions and smiled to herself. Although they did not always see eye to eye on some things she had to admire her mother's zest and enthusiasm for life and that was obviously what had attracted Eric to her. It was Pamela's confidence that had brought him out of his self made shell and allowed him to stretch his wings for the first time. He was obviously devoted to her and spoilt her unashamedly.  
  
"Now then Lexie. That's enough about me. What's ma wee girl been doing in Sassenach country then?"  
  
Lexie was called upon to give yet another detailed outline of their plans for 'Occasions and Celebrations' and had to make it clear to her mother that 'yes' they were 'alright' and 'no' they didn't need any financial help but 'thank you anyway'.  
Pamela was always looking for an opportunity to help her daughter. She still felt guilt pangs over the life they had been forced to lead after Lexie's father had left and which had finally led to Lexie's departure at a very early age.  
  
It had taken some time to rebuild their relationship. Pamela could still see the look in Lexie's eyes when they first encountered each other again and hoped she would never see it again.  
  
As her mother rattled on Lexie found herself obliging with the odd 'yes', 'no' and 'of course' but the concentration began to lag a little. She loved a good gossip as much as anyone but this conversation was rather too one sided. She was wondered just how much more Pamela had to say when she was jolted by a yell down the phone, "Lexie, girl, you not minding me."  
  
"Oh, sorry, must have drifted for a second. What was that again?"  
  
"I just asked you how things were with you and Archie. Now if things weren't right, you would tell me wouldn't you? I did find it a bit strange – him going off to … Nepal was it?"  
  
"Everything's fine mum."  
  
"Well I just wondered, you know. How long have you been married now – two years is it?"  
  
"You know full well it is."  
  
"Then I dare say you'll be thinking about a family soon then."  
  
"Mother!" exclaimed Lexie.  
  
"Well I just thought I ought to ask. I don't want to come back from Japan and find a load of grandchildren I didn't know I had."  
  
"Believe me mother. You will be one of the first to know."  
  
"So you are planning a family then? It's just that, with it being two years now, we did wonder if there was any, well, difficulties, if you see what I mean."  
  
"Well I think that's for Archie and I to sort out don't you?" said Lexie a little too sharply. She realised that Pamela only had her welfare at heart and softened her next words.  
  
"Look I'm sorry I snapped at you but you have to believe me there really isn't a problem – at least I don't think so. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be getting grandchildren eventually," Lexie rolled her eyes at her mother's forwardness. "Now let's talk about something else. OK?"  
  
"Alright, I can see when to shut up. Just take care, the two of you. I just wish you didn't live so far away now or I would be able to pop over and see you."  
  
"Oh, mother, you can travel half way round the world and back and yet you say Glasgow to Northumbria is too far to come! Shame on you!"  
  
"Well it's Eric, he doesn't like the driving these days, but you never know. Now if I had a nice wee grandchild to visit nothing would stop me."  
  
"Mum, stop it." Lexie growled.  
  
"OK, I know. Alright I'll change the subject. Tell me what the village is like"   
  
The conversation continued on a more even keel for some time. So long in fact that Lexie had only just put the phone down on her mother's call when Archie strolled back into the kitchen to find something for lunch.  
  
"So what's my mother-in-law been up to then?"  
  
Lexie began to put him in the picture as best she could as they put together a lunch of bread and cheese.  
  
As the time approached one o'clock Lexie suddenly sat up with a start. "Damn, I haven't washed the floor over," she called as she dashed out of the house kitchen and headed for the industrial version.  
  
She stood in the doorway and was viewing the scene as Archie appeared up behind her.  
  
"It's alright, I've done it. Forgot to tell you. See … all done."  
  
"Thanks Arch," Lexie responded, but she was still unsettled about something. Her eyes scanned the whole room. It looked pristine. Nothing wrong there. Her gaze fell on the door to the part of the building that had been earmarked for the new office and she noticed that it was ajar. She tiptoed across the newly scrubbed floor to close it but hesitated and decided to take a little peek round the door.  
  
There wasn't much to see at the moment, just an old cupboard, a couple of chairs and the hamster cage on a table at the back. She went to close the door …… and then opened it again wide.  
  
"Archie," she yelled, "How long has the hamster cage been in the office?"  
  
"Oh, I put it in there last night because Pickle kept chewing on the bars and it was giving me a headache."  
  
"And did you check Pickle this morning?"  
  
Archie looked puzzled. "Ah, no, but perhaps it would be a good idea to take him back in the house before the inspector gets here."  
  
"Well, I think it would be ….. if there was a hamster to take."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
Lexie gave him a stern look.  
  
"Have a look in the cage Archie. Do you see any hamster there?"  
  
"Er, no." He stared at the empty cage and tried to avoid the evil look he was being given. "I'm sure I did that door up properly. Well he can't have gone far. We'll just look for him."  
  
"And we'd better find him," added Lexie, "after all the door was open and he could have got into the kitchen. He could be anywhere. What's the inspector going to say when he finds a hamster popping out of a saucepan when he does his rounds?" Lexie began to crawl around peering under the tables and chairs. "Come on Arch, help me look and get that cage back into the house before he sees it."   
  
As the time passed all too quickly Lexie and Archie focused all their attention on trying to find Pickle. For Lexie the fear of him turning up during their imminent inspection was as nothing to the distress she would feel if she lost her little friend.  
  
For the best part of the next hour they searched the buildings thoroughly. They looked in every nook and crevice in the industrial kitchen and the office next door but there was absolutely no sign of the hamster anywhere.  
  
"You don't think he could have got out into the yard do you?" whispered Lexie fearfully.  
  
"Well I suppose it's possible but the outside door wasn't open for very long was it?"  
  
"If he got out there we'll never find him," she sighed.  
  
"But at least he won't worry the inspector," replied Archie as he looked out of the window, "and if I'm not mistaken that must be his car arriving now."  
  
The health inspector proved to be a man of few words. He asked them to show him the way and then began making notes as he peered in all the cupboards and eyed up the general arrangement. Archie and Lexie eyed each other nervously from opposite sides of the kitchen. Eventually, after he had been writing for some time on his clipboard, Lexie could stand it no longer.  
  
"Well, Mr Frobisher," she began, "I hope our little establishment is up to the expected standards." She eyed him questioningly.  
  
He ignored her for a moment as he finished writing and then turned to speak.  
  
"Well, Mrs Macdonald. I understand you are new to the catering business and I can see that there are a number of things that could be improved, however …" he paused "I'm pleased to tell you that they are not insurmountable and that I am happy for you to begin trading."  
  
He held out his hand for her to shake and even managed a weak smile. Lexie grinned back at him but her smile soon became rather fixed on her face as she looked past the inspector's shoulder to where Archie was standing, next to some shelves laden with various storage jars. Running along the edge of the shelf in the general direction of the inspector was Pickle.  
  
"Now if you will bear with me can I just go over a few points with you," the inspector continued, and he began to explain. However his audience were not listening.  
  
Lexie coughed very loudly and stared very pointedly at Archie and back to the hamster. Archie, who had been standing in self-congratulatory mood with a beam on his face, suddenly realised that she was trying to message him. He looked at where she was staring and a look of horror came over his face. He quickly scooped the hamster up in his hand and, as the inspector finished his little speech and looked up, he thrust his hands behind his back.  
  
"I'll be off now. Lots of other calls to make this afternoon," said Mr Frobisher, extending his arm to Archie, "Nice little establishment you have here."  
  
"Thanks, we like it very much," spluttered Archie, who ignored the outstretched hand and looked as if he was about to explode.  
  
The inspector gave him a strange look, wished them good luck and allowed Lexie to show him to the door. "Is your husband all right, Mrs Macdonald? He doesn't look at all well?"  
  
"Oh, he's fine," she answered jovially, as the inspector got into his car.  
  
She hurried back into the kitchen where the scene had changed dramatically  
  
The hamster was now running around in the sink. Archie was running around shaking his hand and swearing profusely and the lovely clean floor and work surfaces were now liberally sprayed and smeared with large deposits of what could only have been Archie's blood.  
  
Lexie stood and surveyed the scene for a moment and then she smiled, and then giggled and then, unable to contain herself, burst out laughing.  
  
Archie looked at her laughing and frowned. "It's all right for you madam, but that wretched hamster of yours has just bitten me."


	21. Part 21

PART 21

"ever been so nervous you can't speak?" Lexie asked Archie

"um no" he replied as he changed gear "why has it happened to you, although obviously not at the moment?!"

"well no but I was just wondering if it was possible"

"look stop worrying everything will be fine, we are planned and organised down to the very last detail"

"I know it's just" Lexie was interrupted by the trill of her mobile

"Hi Jill"

"mm right ok, I see, well thanks for the warning" Lexie laughed

"ok, yes that would be lovely.............will do.........right.......bye then"

"what was all that about?" Archie asked

"Jill said, Matt told her she had to warn us, that this Judy Abbott can be well a bit fussy and overbearing, well she is like that in school, and they didn't want us to be put off, and bearing in mind she is mother of the bride, it could be a potential minefield! Oh and she said we are welcome to go round there tonight to de stress for a barbecue if we feel like it, I said I'd ring her later and tell her our plans"

Archie laughed "I'm sure whatever she is like between us we can handle her"

"mmm I'm sure you are right, at least it's a lovely day otherwise, transporting food from the kitchen to the marquee would have been a nightmare! I just hope Judy Abbott was right when she described her kitchen as extremely spacious! How many waiters are there?"

"I think she said 10 which should be fine for 120 guests on tables of 10, all they have to do is help serve the buffet and clear tables"

"and help wash up!"

Eventually they turned onto a gravel driveway in a hamlet about 5 miles from Banbridge. Archie had just turned off the engine, when a tall blonde neatly coiffured woman appeared on the doorstep

"you're late, wondered where on earth you were, now come along let me show you the kitchen" she said

Archie and Lexie exchanged a look knowing they were in fact 5 minutes early and followed her inside. They were led into a vast kitchen with plenty of work space, they both breathed a huge sigh of relief. Having shown them around the kitchen, she took them outside to see the marquee and the set up for the buffet tables.

"right well I'll leave you to it, if you need anything yell" with that she dashed off towards the house. leaving Archie and Lexie in the marquee.

"wow it looks lovely and the smell of sweet peas, a real fairytale wedding" Lexie said as she gazed around the marquee

"you think, a little ostentatious to me"

"Archie Macdonald, how can you say that, you who wanted some extravaganza for our wedding"

"ok ok I know, well I thought that was what I wanted, but you were right and I was wrong as usual" he replied resignedly

"come on you we've got a buffet to prepare"

Everything was frantic in the kitchen there were the waiting staff to organise, and not only the buffet to plate up, but also the canapes, everyone was beavering away when suddenly one of the waiting staff let out a scream, which was followed by a resounding crash. Archie and Lexie turned simultaneously to see what had happened. One of the waitress' was standing with blood pouring out of her hand and the blood appeared to be gushing all over a tray of canapes, another waiter baulking at the sight of the blood had dropped the whole dressed salmon he was holding. There was a moment of silence and complete inactivity as everyone stood around stunned.

Archie dashed over to retrieve the salmon, which despite the fall, remained intact on the platter. Lexie carefully guided away Sarah the waitress who had cut her finger

"you ok, look press down here above the cut to stop the bleeding and hold your hand up ok" she said gently, Sarah nodded as Lexie went to get a first aid kit to dress the wound. When Lexie returned Sarah was quietly crying

"hey its ok, come on its just a shock" Lexie smiled reassuringly as she began to dress the wound

"its not that, its just well its my first day working for this waitressing agency and I need this job to help pay for college and look what has happened"

"look accidents happen, don't worry"

"oh I just had a bad experience in the first job I had in the pub in the village, and I wanted today to go well"

"really?" Lexie responded trying not too sound too interested in the snippet about the pub, it didn't take a genius to imagine what the bad experience was Sarah had, or who had caused it "look" she continued "I'll let you into a secret, this is the first job Archie and I have done for our new outside catering company, we're probably more terrified than you!"

"I don't believe you, you're both so calm and organised"

"don't you believe it, listen make sure you leave me your name and phone number before you go, as Archie and I need to build up a bank of reliable waiting staff"

"really, oh thanks that would be great"

"there all done, your finger is as good as new"

"everything ok?" Archie asked as he wandered over

"yes fine, how was the salmon and the canapes?" Lexie asked him

"both ok, the salmon was unscathed and the canapes were still covered in cling film, so back to work"

"yes alright slave driver" Lexie said turning to wink at Sarah.

"Lex we have to set up the wedding cake tiers, they have just arrived. I suppose it would be best to set it up on the cake table in the marquee"

" yes definitely, what are the tiers all fruit or is one sponge?"

"no idea, look you grab the top tier and the pillars and I'll carry the other two"

"Arch you sure you should carry two together? What happens if you drop one?"

"It'll be fine, you know I made a wedding cake once"

"you?!" Lexie responded incredulously

"yep for a cousin of Justine's, I was considered the consummate cake baker you know"

"well I've been baking cakes for years, I'm sure I could make a wedding cake"

"ooo do I sense a little competitive edge here?" Archie asked as he carefully placed the cake boxes down

"no I was just saying"

"I thought your speciality was chocolate cake" Archie said suggestively moving in close to her

"Archie Macdonald keep your mind on the job" Lexie replied laughingly pushing him away

"isn't there a cake baking competition at the May Fayre Lex?"

damn thought Lexie I didn't think he knew "um yes I think there might be"

"mm well I might enter then"

"oh I think entries had to be in last week" Lexie added quickly

"really? that's a shame"

"yes isn't" Lexie said smiling to herself, then changing the subject "hey the cake looks great" as they both stood back to admire the wedding cake.

"yep it does, come on Lex we better get back to the kitchen" Archie said taking hold of her hand.

The rest of the day went without a hitch, the guests devoured with food with many compliments abounding.

"well that it is then our first successful job" Archie said as they both did one final check of the kitchen, ensuring it was left as pristine as when they had arrived that morning

"sure is, what a great team we are" Lexie said as they wrapped their arms around each other, they were interrupting by a throat being cleared, and they sprung apart

"sorry to interrupt you" said Judy Abbott with a twinkle in her eye "but I just wanted to thank you for saving the day, the food was exquisite, I shall be recommending you to all my friends. I must confess when Jill suggested you I was a little dubious being as you are new, but I was proved wrong, thank you both so much, now I must get back to the reception" with that she left them.

Archie and Lexie looked at each and laughed

"well not much we can say to that is there" said Lexie as she grabbed her handbag as they walked out of the kitchen

"no, home I think" Archie said, Lexie nodded her head as she rested it on his shoulder.

When they got home they collapsed on the kitchen sofa with mugs of tea

"well I'm off for a long hot soak in the bath before we had off to Jill and Matt's"

"ok Lex I've got something I have to be doing" Archie said with a furtive expression on his face

Lexie looked at him quizzically "what?" she demanded

"nothing you need to concern yourself with, now off you go, but don't soak for too long so you go pruney"

Lexie turned and poked her tongue out him and made her way upstairs.

Archie grabbed a picnic blanket, filled the ice bucket with ice and placed the champagne bottle inside and made his way out to the orchard. He spread out the blanket and hid the champagne behind an apple tree. He then headed inside to shower and change.

"what are you looking so secretive about Archie Macdonald?" Lexie asked as she spied him later sitting on the sofa in the kitchen looking extremely nervous

"you look lovely"

"thanks, but I sense you are up to something"

Archie smiled and stood up and grabbed hold of her hand

"come with me" he said leading her out into the garden

"Arch we haven't got time we'll be late"

"this won't take long, trust me"

They walked through the garden to the orchard, to where Archie had set out the picnic blanket, he sat down and gestured for Lexie to do the same. Looking slightly unsure, she did as he invited. He moved his position so he was facing her

"Lex do you remember the ring pull"

"yes of course, but Arch what is this about?"

"do you remember the ring I gave you, well Molly's ring"

"yes"

"and then you sold it to help pay off the death duties"

"mmm" Lexie responded wondering what on earth Archie was getting at

"well because the death duties were paid, Glenbogle was saved, you helped to make that possible, it was a very altruistic gesture. I know material things and possessions have never been important to you, but you are very important and precious to me and I wanted you to, well have" he said as he began to fumble in his pocket, producing a small box "this replacement"

Lexie took the box and opened it, inside was a ring, a solitaire diamond on a platinum gold band. Archie took it from her and slipped it on her finger so it rested next to her wedding ring. He smiled, kissed her "I love you Lexie Macdonald"

Lexie held out her hand to admire the ring "oh Archie thank you, its beautiful, you know I think I love you too, especially right now" she teased as she hugged him in return

" I thought today was a good a day as any to give it to you as we had done the catering for that wedding, it sort of seemed appropriate" Archie said

"it's a lovely thought and gesture, you know sometimes you can be a very thoughtful and sweet man" Lexie said as she gently ran her hand down the side of his face

"I know I just can't help it! Oh and we have this to celebrate" Archie said as he stood up to retrieve the champagne

"celebrate what?"  
  
"us, you, me, love, life, marriage, a successful catering job, anything you want"

Lexie laughed "if we start drinking that we'll be here all night, I can see exactly what will happen, come on lets take it with us to Jill and Matt, after all they put us onto the job today" seeing Archie's crestfallen face, Lexie continued "oh Arch I didn't mean to rain on your parade, look tomorrow evening we'll have a champagne picnic out here, when we have no commitments and there will be no interruptions, just you and me and no one else"

Archie smiled and said "ok you're on you gorgeous woman, now get me out of here before I start something I can't stop" as he trailed his fingers up her leg

Before he could finish Lexie jumped up laughing and took hold of his hand and they made their way down to the house, locking up as they passed by. They then continued up the lane to Jill and Matt's house. Suddenly Archie stopped, turned and kissed Lexie, they were both completely oblivious to the fact that their progress up the lane and their kiss was being watched from an upstairs window of the pub.


	22. Part 22

Part 22  
  
"What time do we have to get there, Lex?" Archie called from the  
kitchen.   
  
"Well the entries have to be there by 2 so the judging can start,"  
she shouted back.  
  
"Then we'd better get a move on. We can't have the May Fayre open  
without the prize exhibit can we?"  
  
Archie stood back to admire his handiwork. He had been slaving over  
the stove all morning working on his own special recipe for  
chocolate cake. It was one that he had worked on years before when  
he worked in the restaurant trade in London but since then, he had  
to admit, Lexie had given him one or two pointers that now put his  
cake in a league of its own. He was justifiably proud of his  
creation and was eager to show it off in the annual cake competition  
at the May Fayre.  
  
Lexie hurried into the kitchen and looked at the cake in the centre  
of the table. It certainly looked like one of Archie's better jobs   
and she knew from previous experience that it would taste even   
scrummier than it looked. She smiled as she remembered the time that  
she had got Archie to try her secret ingredient for the first time.  
It was not long after they had been married and Lexie had been still  
struggling to relieve herself of the reputation for 'burnt  
offerings' that had been established in her first days at Glenbogle.  
  
Since those early times when Molly had, perhaps fortunately, taken  
her on untested as a rookie cook/housekeeper she had worked hard on  
her culinary skills until she now felt she could match anybody in  
the kitchen ... including Archie. However it still irked her that  
people assumed Archie was the supremo in the kitchen and she was the  
chef's assistant.   
  
"Come on Lex, we've got to get the car loaded up with all the stuff  
for the pig roast and get it over there so that Matt can get things  
started."  
  
She came to from her thoughts. "Oh, sorry Arch. Don't know what I  
was thinking about there. Are we loading then. Don't forget the  
stuff for the pig roast will you."  
  
Archie laughed, picked up a tea towel and threw it at her.  
  
"Wake up. I just said that. Can you find that box you had for the  
cake. We've got to make sure we get it there in one piece after all  
my effort."

"All your effort," she scoffed, "and what about all the effort I put  
in last night getting everything ready while you were playing squash  
with Matt. Oh, and then there was all the effort you put in raising  
that glass to your mouth in the pub afterwards."  
  
Archie put on a hurt look. "That was a planning meeting. We had to  
make sure we knew what we were doing today. Besides you wouldn't  
have wanted to be there – Dan was hogging the bar all night."  
  
The mention of Dan sent a shiver along Lexie's spine. What was  
wrong with the man. Couldn't he see she wasn't interested.  
  
"He's not going to be at the fayre is he Arch?"  
  
"Well I imagine he's definitely going to be there. Don't forget the  
pub is sponsoring the competition tent and donating some of the  
prizes."   
  
"Urgh," she pulled a face, "Well keep him away from me then. The  
man's a creep. I'm so glad we've got enough business at the moment  
to not have to consider working with him. Come on let's get this  
car loaded."  
  
Lexie gently slid Archie's cake into the box while he found all the  
necessary equipment for the pig roast that he and Matt had been  
persuaded to organise as part of the medieval feast that would round  
things off that evening. It was going to be quite an event for the  
village, with musical entertainment included, and many of the  
inhabitants were planning to attend in appropriate costume.  
  
"Right, I think that's it now," shouted Archie from the car.  
  
"OK then," yelled Lexie from the kitchen, "I'll be out in a second."  
  
She dashed out of the back door to the house and headed for the  
industrial kitchen where she picked up a box that had been hidden  
out of sight and gently carried it back to the waiting car. Archie  
already had the car revving and turned to look at her pushing the  
box in at the back. "What's that?"   
  
"Oh, didn't I tell you. Jill asked if we could bring a few serving  
dishes over for the salads. I nearly forgot."   
  
"Well make sure we get them back again."  
  
Lexie came to attention as she climbed in the front of the car and gave a mock salute. "Yes, sir!"  
  
They set off gently down the lane to the May Fayre field and parked  
up close to the large marquee that had been erected there for the  
competition entries.   
  
Although the official opening wasn't until 2, things were already  
buzzing. At the far end of the field the fun fair was open for  
business with a carousel, dodgems and a coconut shy. A small arena  
had been roped off for the various outdoor activities like fancy  
dress competitions, marching displays and tug of war. There were a  
number of stalls dotted around the edge of the field and they could  
see Mary over on the far side with the tombola, looking very busy  
already.  
  
"I hope Mary doesn't run out too soon," observed Lexie.  
  
"Well if she does it is not through lack of donations from us.  
We've been living off air pie this last week since you gave her  
every tin and packet in the house," laughed Archie.  
  
"Oh, Arch you know it's for a good cause. Hadn't you better get  
this cake into the marquee while I take those dishes over to Jill."  
She had spotted Jill and Emily talking to Lucy next to the bran  
tub.  
  
Archie headed off with his cake and Lexie picked up the box that she  
had put into the car at the last minute and headed for the bran tub.   
Jill saw her coming.  
  
"Is that it?" Lexie nodded and Jill looked at her quizzically,  
"And has he suspected anything?"  
  
"Not a thing."  
  
"Good, then hand it over and you try and distract him while I sneak  
it in."  
  
Lexie passed the box to Jill who opened one corner and looked  
inside. "It looks fantastic Lex. I'd better be careful with it."   
  
"Thanks Jill."  
  
"Lexie?"  
  
"Yes Emily, how's my favourite girl then?"  
  
"Can you come on the roundabout with me. Mummy doesn't want to and  
Daddy's gone to do the fire."  
  
"Well I might just manage that and when we've been on that I could  
take you on the dodgems if mummy doesn't mind." She looked up at  
Jill who nodded her agreement. "Would you like that?"  
  
"Yes please, I've never been on dodgems before. Can I drive?"  
  
"Well maybe not this time. You have to be a bit bigger before they  
let you in the driving seat. How about you Lucy? Are you going to  
join us?"   
  
"Not just yet. I have to stay here and look after the bran tub for  
the next hour and then I'm going to watch the prize giving. Do you  
know who's giving out the prizes?"  
  
Lucy gave Lexie a rather strange look.  
  
"No, never heard about that. Who is it then? Some local aristocrat  
or a minor soap star?"  
  
"No, it's Dan, because the pub put up most of the prize money,"  
answered Lucy.  
  
"Great!" Lexie was momentarily stunned. "Look I know he's a  
relative of yours but he's not exactly my favourite person."  
  
Lucy smiled back. "Oh, don't worry about that. He's not  
particularly popular in our family either, or with anyone else round  
here. Between ourselves, I think all this prize money that he's put  
up is just a way of trying to get in with the villagers, but I don't   
think it's going to work. I'm afraid his reputation goes before  
him."  
  
She hesitated as if she wanted to tell Lexie more but she saw Emily  
looking at them impatiently and merely added, "Make sure you go past  
the stocks on your way to the fairground," and stifled a giggle.  
  
Lexie headed off with Emily and was soon joined by Archie who was  
confidently boasting that the other entries in the cake competition  
didn't stand a chance.  
  
"Where are you off to," he asked.   
  
"We're off to the fair aren't we Emily and we have to take a look at  
the stocks on the way."  
  
"Why's that?"  
  
"Lucy seemed to think that we would find it particularly  
interesting."  
  
They walked down the side of the arena and, as they approached the  
area earmarked for various persons to put themselves up for a  
dowsing in the stocks, they could see that there was already quite a  
large queue forming. Archie craned his neck and reported back.  
  
"You're not going to believe this one."  
  
"What am I not going to believe?"  
  
"Well I don't know what induced him to do it but Dan is in the  
stocks and from the look of it he's a very popular target. He just  
got a very wet sponge straight between the eyes."  
  
Lexie giggled. "Ooh, this I must see. Come along Emily let's go and  
have a look shall we?"  
  
Lexie and Emily walked around the queue to get a better view. Dan  
was stuck in the stocks with his hands trapped on either side of his   
head and it appeared most of the village had come out to have a   
throw at him. He was soaked through and grinning through clenched   
teeth.  
  
"I see you're enjoying my nephew in the stocks, then."  
  
Lexie looked round to see that they had been joined by Margaret  
Mason.  
  
"He didn't want to do it," she continued, "but I persuaded him that  
everyone would think he was such a good sport if he did." She  
looked over Emily's head at Lexie and winked. "He's definitely  
popular isn't he?" They grinned at each other and continued  
watching as the ferocious sponge hurling went on.  
  
Finally Emily tugged at Lexie's shirt. "Look Lexie, it's Archie."  
  
They all looked across and watched as Archie fired the first of his  
three sponges. It landed just above Dan's head and the water  
trickled down onto his neck. The second one somehow ended up on  
Dan's shirt and left a lovely damp patch. For the third one Archie  
took a few steps back, took careful aim and stepped forward to hurl  
the sponge with as much force as he could muster. The sponge found  
its mark almost instinctively, right on Dan's nose and seemed to   
explode the water all over his face. Dan spluttered and spit and   
tried to shake off as much water as he could.  
  
"Good shot Arch," yelled Lexie clapping as she ran over with Emily  
to give him a hug while Dan just glared.  
  
The fairground proved to be a tremendous draw and they all enjoyed the rides enormously. Emily insisted on going on the dodgems with  
both Lexie and Archie and was very pleased with the pink rabbit that  
Archie managed to win for her at the shooting gallery. They were  
joined by Jill and Matt later and they all had some candy floss and  
an ice cream.   
  
"Can I go on the roundabout again? Please mummy. I know Lexie  
wants to go again don't you Lexie?" pleaded Emily.   
  
"Well maybe not for a while. Not just after all you've eaten,"  
explained Jill. "Besides, I think it must be nearly time for them  
to announce the results of the competitions. We need to get back to  
the arena or we'll miss it."  
  
They headed back to the find a spot on the edge of the little arena  
and on the way noticed that Dan had been replaced by Jill's  
headmaster who did not seem to be half as popular judging by the  
queue.   
  
"Mind if I join you?" It was Lucy, now relieved from her bran tub  
duties.  
  
A small group of people now approached the podium set up in the  
centre with various trophies set upon it. Dan was there of course  
and a couple of people they did not recognise and another that they  
did.  
  
"What's Margaret doing up there!" exclaimed Lexie.  
  
"Oh, she's chairman of judges. Didn't you know?" explained Lucy.  
  
They stood watching as Margaret Mason tapped the microphone to test  
it and then introduced the prize giving. She thanked Dan profusely  
for his "most generous" support and hoped that he was not going to   
get a cold after his stint in the stocks. The prize giving went on  
for some time as there were many different classes for things such as  
flower arranging, furniture making, wine making and macramé. Each  
time the results were read out in reverse order and the winner went  
up to collect a medal or a trophy of some sort. Eventually she came  
to the cookery classes.  
  
"Now we come to the special class for chocolate cake making. We  
had a number of very good entries for this class and the panel  
agreed that in third place we would place the excellent entry from  
Nicola Graham." There was a pause for a small ripple of applause.  
  
"I saw that one," commented Archie, "It looked a little too risen I   
think."  
  
Margaret continued, "Now we come to the second place and I think I  
have to say here that it was a very difficult job for the judges.  
We had two delicious cakes to choose from and, despite being  
remarkably similar in taste and appearance, the judges had to make a  
final decision based upon moistness and texture. I am pleased to  
say however that we did finally come to a decision and second place  
goes to ....... Archie Macdonald.  
  
Archie looked a little stunned for a second and then recomposed his  
face into a broad smile as the ripple of applause went round again  
and people began looking at him.  
  
"As I said before the final decision rested upon the actual feel of  
the cake and by the narrowest of margins the judges decided to award   
first prize and the Mason Cup, provided by my family I have to say,  
to an outstanding entry from someone new to the village ....... Alex  
McTavish .... " There was a round of applause and then a pause as  
Margaret came to the microphone.  
  
"Is the winner here to receive his or her trophy?"  
  
"Well it must have been a darn good cake to beat mine," muttered  
Archie, looking round with everyone else to see who the winner was.  
  
"It was." came a voice from right beside him. He looked round   
astonished and stared at Lexie while pointing a finger at her.   
"You?"  
  
"Yes, of course, me. Had you forgotten my maiden name already.  
Alex .... Alexandra .... McTavish."   
  
Lexie took Archie's arm and kissed him. "Well when you were so  
confident that you made the best chocolate cake in Northumbria I  
thought about how I'd given you that secret ingredient and I decided  
two could play at this game. So I set to and made mine last night  
while you were out with Matt. I thought I did quite a good job and  
the judges obviously agree." She grinned at him.  
  
"Is Alex McTavish here?" repeated Margaret into the microphone.  
  
"Yes, Margaret. I'm here," volunteered Lexie and she stepped up to  
the podium to collect the cup from an already leering Dan. She had  
been so caught up in the moment that she had forgotten that she  
would have to pick up the prize from him. As she approached with  
her hand out to shake his she would rather have been anywhere else  
at that moment.  
  
"Well now, not only the sexiest lady in Northumbria but also the  
best cake maker in the business, there seems to be no end to your  
hidden talents." smarmed Dan, "I can see that I still have a lot to   
learn about you."  
  
Ignoring her outstretched hand, Dan leaned in to kiss her and she  
felt herself being caught in a bear hug as his strong arms pulled  
her closer. She could feel his sweaty breath as his mouth pushed  
down on hers and she struggled to free herself.  
  
"Dan Shaw, you get off that girl," a woman's voice suddenly shrieked  
from the crowd. Dan drew away in shock as everyone parted to let a  
young woman come out of the crowd and approach the podium. She had  
a young boy with her of about two years old.  
  
"So this is what you get up to now is it? I can see that things  
don't change. If you're so rich now that you can donate all these  
prizes then I think perhaps you might be able to spare a bit of cash  
to support your wife and child."  
  
There was a gasp from the crowd and they turned to look at Dan.  
  
He hesitated before replying. "Look everyone this is all a big  
mistake. Yes, this is my wife. She's nothing but a tart. She left  
me and went off with another man. I bet that's his son ... or maybe  
she found someone else."  
  
The woman looked at him coldly.  
  
"Dan Shaw, I don't know how you can stand there and say that. You  
know as well as I do that this boy is yours. You walked out when I  
was six months pregnant and its taken me this long to catch up with  
you. You owe us - big time – and I'm going to get the Child  
Support Agency on to you. As for other men – then you're wrong.  
You were the only man for me. Can't believe what a fool I was -  
thinking that you would forget all your philandering once we were  
married. You're never going to change. Who's this - your latest  
conquest? Wouldn't have thought she was your type but no accounting  
for taste."  
  
Dan grabbed hold of Lexie, wrapping his arm tightly round her waist  
and holding her there. "Yes, that's right ... and she's a lot warmer  
to snuggle up to than you ever were, you slapper." Lexie's eyes  
opened wide in shock as Dan scanned the audience and fixed on  
Archie. "That's right isn't it Archie? I don't suppose she told  
you what happened that day you didn't turn up for our business  
meeting, did she? Very accommodating she was."  
  
"You sleazebag!"  
  
Dan's wife dropped her son's hand, dashed at the podium and started  
to pull Dan towards the edge. He began to wrestle himself away and   
Lexie took advantage of his distraction to free herself. She leapt  
from the podium and bolted through the crowd towards Archie who  
continued to fix his gaze on Dan.


	23. Part 23

PART 23

Archie's focus remained fixed on Dan as he walked towards the podium. Jill having watched the horrible scene evolve moved quickly to take Lexie's hand and usher her away to a quiet corner. Lexie allowed herself to be led away, as she rubbed vigorously at her mouth, trying to erase the sense of Dan's violating kiss. Lucy looked on with a mixture of embarrassment and horror.

Climbing up onto the podium Archie's expression remained devoid of emotion, seeing the intense anger in his eyes Mandy, Dan's wife moved aside

"what exactly are you implying?" Archie asked Dan in a cold, calm voice. Lexie looked up at him aghast, concerned that Archie was actually perhaps believing Dan's accusation.

Dan paused before a smile broke out on his face "well, use your imagination you must know your wife, very accommodating and willing she is"

Archie looked directly at him "you're right I do know my wife, I know that she would never have done what you are accusing her of, I know exactly what she told me about how you have made her feel on numerous occasions, with your remarks and looks, why on earth do you think we decided not to be involved with you and the pub on a business level? She couldn't stand to be in your company..."

Before Archie could continue his anger escalating at Dan's abhorrent insinuations, he was interrupted by Mary who made her way onto the podium and began bellowing

"I saw you, I saw you that morning when I was collecting for the hospice you good for nothing lecherous creep, I saw you making Lexie feel uncomfortable, leering at her, trying to intimidate her, men like you make me sick" she then raised her handbag and began to hit him with it, as he put up his arms to protect himself, Archie slipped away to Lexie, who was crying silently being comforted by Jill.

He took hold of Lexie and hugged her tightly, he stroked her hair murmuring words of reassurance and comfort, as Jill slipped away leaving them alone. When the tears stopped she looked up at him

"you didn't believe him did you?"

"not for one second" he leant down and kissed her gently, then brushing the hair from her face asked

"you ok?"

she smiled "I am now, you always make me feel safe and that everything will be alright" she then started to giggle "the sight of Mary bashing that creep with her handbag was priceless"

Archie laughed with her, "it was probably just as well she came along as I'm not sure I'd have been so gentle"

"my hero defending my honour" Lexie teased

"of course my damsel in distress"

"I'm cross with myself for letting him make me cry just now"

"oh Lex" Archie said hugging her tighter "of course you'd be upset it was a horrible shock, don't be hard on yourself"

"I know it was, I couldn't believe what was happening first he kissed me" she winced as silent tears began to fall again "and the more that woman yelled the tighter his grip was on me, horrible" she shuddered at the memory

"I know Lex" Archie said feeling angry still himself, but desperately wanting to reassure and comfort Lexie

"you know Arch I am really angry as well, I mean the audacity of the man thinking I'd be interested in him, I mean I ask you he makes me squirm, can you imagine YEUCK" Lexie added getting some of her spirit back

"um actually Lex, I don't make a habit of imagining you with other men but I get your point"

Lexie laughed "well I'm glad about that" she said as she stood on tiptoe and kissed him

"what do you want to do now sweetheart, go home, stay here"

"well if I'm honest a big part of me really wants to go home, and curl up with you, with a mug of tea and for you to tell me silly stories and play with my hair" Archie smiled at her with a look of affection and love, "but if I do I'm letting that creep win, I've got nothing to hide, so come on lets go and watch Jill's class do their Maypole Dancing"

"that's my girl" Archie said kissing her and putting his arm round her shoulders

Just as they were about to walk off, they were approached by Mandy, at her appearance Lexie felt herself moving in closer to Archie and his grip around her shoulders tightened, they waited to see what she wanted

"look Lexie isn't it?" Lexie nodded "I just wanted to say I'm really sorry about earlier you were caught in the crossfire and well"

Archie had heard enough "well maybe you should have got your facts straight before you started making wild accusations about my wife"

"I know I am truly sorry but that man has led me a merry dance for years and well seeing him with you Lexie was just too much, I jumped to conclusions" her voice quietened and tears began to form in her eyes

"its ok I understand its not you who's at fault here it's Dan, look apology accepted I appreciate it" Lexie said

"thanks I thought I had to say something and I am going to stay around Banbridge for a bit, Margaret has offered to have me and Jake to stay, anyway I'm sorry and see you around" she finished nervously before walking away

"well" said Archie "if she is staying around looks like we can expect some fireworks and explosions"

"mmm" pondered Lexie "I feel really sorry for her, but you know good old Margaret taking her in, she's obviously not such a bad old stick after all, hey Arch just think if things work out between Duncan and Lucy, they'll all become his in laws!"

Archie laughed as they made their way over to watch the Maypole dancing, they spied Matt in the crowd with Emily sitting on his shoulders

"hello you two" he greeted them "you ok" he looked questioningly at Lexie

"I'm fine thanks Matt" Lexie replied, before he could respond, Emily jumped in

"look at me Lexie I'm taller than everyone"

"so you are Ems have you got a good view of the dancing"

"yes" then she put her head on one side and continued "you know Lexie you're not very tall not like Mummy, maybe you could sit on Archie's shoulders and then you could be tall and see too"

Lexie laughed "that's a good idea Ems, but I think I'm a bit too big to sit on Archie's shoulders, he might hurt his back"

"oh ok" Emily replied turning back to watch the dancing as Matt rolled his eyes at Archie and Lexie "excuse my daughter, takes after her mother!"

"what is that you are saying about my daughter Matthew?" asked Mary who appeared through the crowd

"nothing Mary nothing" Matt appeased smiling

turning to Lexie and touching her arm, Mary said "oh Lexie dear are you alright, I expect you are with your lovely husband there holding your hand"

"I'm fine Mary thanks and what can I say you're a mean shot with a handbag"

"ooo Lexie I had so much fun, bashing that creep, he'll be black and blue tomorrow you mark my words" Mary said as Archie and Lexie laughed "oh and have you heard" she continued

"what?" they asked together

"that Mandy is going to stay with Margaret"

"yes she told us when she came to apologise" Lexie explained

"apologise did she, good I know it wasn't her fault but, well anyway least said soonest mended, well I must be off, my stint now with the teas, see you later at the pig roast"

After Mary had gone, Archie and Lexie realised they had been so busy chatting they had missed the dancing and it was now over

"shall we go Lex" Lexie nodded in agreement, Archie turned to Matt "we're off to get changed see you back here in a couple of hours"

"yep see you then, bye" Matt called

Lexie sat on the bedroom floor crying with laughter, she was holding her side unable to speak just splutter, the sight of Archie hopping around the room attempting to put on a pair of tights had been too much. He stood beside her looking cross holding a pair of tights aloft in his hand, waiting for her to gain control of herself. Eventually she spoke

"if you could only have seen yourself, it was when you" and she started to laugh again. Archie slumped down on the bed

"oh Archie darling why don't you let me help you" Lexie said coquettishly as she crawled over to the bed and began trawling her fingers up his leg

"because I will not be defeated by a pair of tights for goodness sake"

Lexie sat back and watched him with a beguiling expression on her face as Archie began the charade again, eventually he stopped

"ok you win" he said begrudgingly smiling at her as he handed her the tights

Lexie began to ease his feet into the tights, as she did this she was unable to resist the urge to tickle them, whilst looking at Archie wickedly,

"I may be helpless at the moment Alexandra, but don't think you've got away with this"

"you know Arch I think you might look quite sexy in tights" she said putting her head on one side

"mmmm well I'm not so sure, talking of sexy, you promised me a medieval wench's outfit, and as delectable as you look in that dress it wasn't quite what I had imagined"

"hmmm" said Lexie sighing and slumping down to sit on the bed

Archie looked at her questioningly "Lex, what's going on?"

"its just, oh nothing" Lexie replied as she looked down twisting a corner of the duvet cover between her fingers

"well it doesn't look like it, it's Dan isn't it" Lexie looked up and nodded

"oh Lex me making a comment about how you look is completely different to Dan, I see the whole you, he sees what he wants to see. You would look beautiful to me in whatever you were wearing because I see the whole you it goes way beyond any physical attraction, but you know that and I don't need to remind you" he said smiling at her

"I know and you don't" she smiled "I just know he'll be there and I just don't want him looking at me"

"you know Lex I'm not so sure he will be there, I would imagine after his public humiliation he might want to keep a low profile and if he is there I think he'll be avoiding us, look lets forget about him, so are you going help me finish putting on these tights or not?" he asked pulling her to her feet

"of course" she smiled

"where on earth did Jill get these costumes from anyway?"

"well yours and Matt's she cobbled together using her many costume books as a guide and apparently this is what medieval princesses wore and it was all Jill could find in the am dram wardrobe" she said as she looked down at the purple dress, which flowed out from the waist down to her ankles, had a scooped neckline and sleeves that hung down at the wrist to the floor.

"you know its not so bad and there is that laced bodice" he said grabbing her round the waist

As Archie toyed with the laces on the bodice of Lexie's dress, she looked him up and down "and I have to say what a sight that is, my man in nothing but a pair of tights" she said suggestively "but if we aren't going to be late you need to put on your tunic and genuine medieval boots!"

"ok ok but only if you help me" he said pulling her in close for a kiss

"my pleasure" she said as she began to tickle him again, as they both fell backwards giggling onto the bed.

A little later they walked back to the village green. Archie looked extremely uncomfortable in his costume

"oh Arch relax its just a bit of fun, no one is looking at you, well they probably are, but the tunic covers......well" Lexie said giggling

"its alright for you Lex you're in a dress, I'm in tights!"

As they arrived at the village green they met Jill and Matt, the latter who looked even more uncomfortable than Archie. Jill and Lexie just looked at each other and collapsed in a fit of giggles. Emily who had just arrived with Mary, turned to her and said

"Granny why are Mummy and Lexie being silly and giggling and why are Daddy and Archie wearing tights? I thought only ladies wore tights?"

"well Emily dear that is a good question, lets just say at a medieval pig roast Mummies can giggle and be silly and Daddies can wear tights, but only then and at no other time"

"oh I see" said Emily pondering this thought

"right well when you two have composed yourselves we have work to do" Matt said glaring at Jill and Lexie

"ok darling at your service" Jill replied managing to control her giggling fit

They made their way over to the barbecue area, where the pig had been roasted to perfection. Archie and Matt set up the barbecue for the burgers and hot dogs whilst Jill and Lexie organised the relishes and bread rolls. When they finished Jill turned to Lexie

"Lex I didn't get a chance to say anything earlier, but you are ok aren't you after that horrible business with Dan"

"Jill I'm fine" said Lexie giving her a hug "and thank you for being there for me"

The smell of the pig roast and barbecue meant that very quickly a queue started of hungry villagers. One of the first people in the queue was Bill Taylor who ran the village post office with his wife Jean

"I hope you don't think I'm speaking out of turn, but well Jean and I just wanted to say we were very sorry about that business with Dan, he's not very popular in the village and what he did this afternoon was well unforgivable, we just wanted you to know"

Archie looked at Lexie to gauge her reaction, she smiled at him telling him it was fine she would say something in response, turned to Bill and said " thank you its nice of you to take the trouble to say something, its hard with Archie and me being new to the village"

"don't you worry about that dear, people here already can see you are decent, honest people, a welcome addition to Banbridge" at Bill's words Lexie could feel her eyes welling up after the emotional turmoil of the day, realising this Archie moved over to her, took hold of her hand and thanked Bill.

After that many other villagers echoed Bill's thoughts about Dan's behaviour.

"every cloud has a silver lining eh Arch, I can't believe how lovely people are" Lexie remarked her eyes welling up again

"I know Lex" said Archie giving her a reassuring hug, Jill and Matt exchanged a look

"I think you two deserve some time out, look we'll finish up here, you go and start tripping the light fantastic at the barn dance, and we'll catch up with you there" Matt said

"you sure" Archie asked

"yes go" Jill replied laughing

"Lex how much of that cider did you drink" Archie asked as she stumbled on their walk home after the barn dance

"mmm not sure Arch think I might be a bit pished"

Archie laughed as he put his arm round her waist to support her "you know Lex, I think you might be right!"

"thing is Arch I've never really drunk cider before, ooo I think I'm almost seeing two of you! ooo two Archies, mmm I think one is enough" Lexie giggled

"that's the trouble with cider, I think I'm going to have to carry you home"

"carry me home, no I can walk" said Lexie as she tripped again "oops" she giggled and then stopped in her tracks "you know Arch I really really love you" she continued as she moved to kiss him her hands going behind his neck up into his hair, when suddenly a voice boomed at them

"so you two think you can humiliate me AND get away it do you"

On hearing Dan's voice Lexie immediately felt sober as she and Archie moved slightly apart

"well you picked the wrong man I can make trouble, oh and wouldn't it be a shame to see your nice new business in ruins" he said venomously. Seeing he was getting no reaction from either Archie or Lexie his anger grew and he continued

"and as for you darling" he said leering drunkenly at Lexie "well you missed your chance with me we could have been so good together and I could have fulfilled you in ways you would never have dreamed possible and certainly more than you'd ever get from your precious Archie."

Lexie took a step towards Dan, knowing his words were meaningless and looked him straight in the eye "Do you know what you are? You are an arrogant, pathetic specimen of an excuse for a man, and I wouldn't touch you even if you were the last man on this planet you repulse me and the sooner you crawl back under the stone you come out from the better." Dan stood there dumbstruck, Archie looked on full of admiration as he stepped forward and said

"well Dan I think Lexie has pretty much summed things up, but don't even think of trying to sabotage our business, you won't get anywhere and from what we've heard this evening, we have earned more respect in this village in a short space of time than you have or for that matter are ever likely to. Now if you'll excuse me I am going to take my _wife _home to _bed."_

Dan stormed angrily back to the pub

"Well Lex you certainly told him" said Archie holding out his hand and pulling her in close

"Arch, I think you and I have got better things to do with our time than standing here wasting time talking about Dan"

Archie replied "oh I couldn't agree more and I'm still a little concerned about the effect of the cider, so I'm taking no chances and carrying you home." Lexie giggled in reply as he picked her up.


	24. Part 24

**Part 24**

Archie began unloading some of the shopping into the fridge. A sleepy Lexie appeared in the kitchen doorway.

"So, did you get everything?" Lexie said stifling a yawn.

"Sure did. See, told you I could cope with the list on my own" Archie replied in mock offence.

"Oh Arch, come here, you know I don't doubt your shopping skills. It's just, well, I know how boring you find it" Lexie said while encircling her arms around Archie's middle and resting her head on his shoulder.

"Wasn't that bad and anyway you needed to get some sleep. You looked shattered earlier," Archie replied, concerned, and turned Lexie round in his arms to study her face.

"You feeling any better?"

"Mm, er, much better actually. We've had such a hectic week haven't we? So we can't complain business is busy after all."

"Yes but there are more important things than work Lex" Archie responded while staring fixedly into her eyes.

"I know, I know. I'm just determined to make this work"

"And it is Lex. It is working." Lexie snuggled contentedly into Archie's hug.

After five minutes Archie finally broke the comfortable silence. "Come on, as much as I could stand here for hours I'd better finish unpacking that shopping. Why don't you have a soak in the bath while I get lunch on.

"Thanks Arch" Lexie smiled and left him with a brief kiss.

"Take your time" he called after her.

Archie busied himself with the shopping. He was glad Lexie had gone for a bath as he had a few secrets of his own in the shopping that he didn't want her to see just yet. They had indeed had a rather hectic week with not one but two wedding anniversaries to cater for and a children's tea party. They had both been rushed off their feet and although it was a good sign that business was really picking up he realised that they would have to be careful not to take on too much or they would have to take on some extra help.

Lexie had thrown herself into all the arrangements and pushed the awful Dan memories to the back of her mind so in that way it had been useful but they both knew that the issue was not closed yet.

The kids party had been quite a laugh actually. He had loved her cheerfulness in adversity when the sausage roll landed in the jelly and she had popped it in her mouth and persuaded all the children to try it for themselves. Sausage rolls and raspberry jelly … yum. It might catch on yet!

Archie looked out of the window. It was a glorious summer day. There was a slight breeze to take some of the heat away and the sky was a brilliant blue. It seemed a shame for them to be sat inside.

Lexie was as good as Archie's word and did indeed take her time in the bathroom. She lay back relaxing in the bath and watched the little candle flame flicker on the shelf above and decided that from now on she was going to drive away all the negative thoughts that tried to work their way into her mind and concentrate on all the positive and good things that were going on in her life. 

No more worrying about Dan .. she knew he couldn't worry them now. Time to look forward to the future and what it might have in store for them. Who knows, maybe this time next year the business would be making so much money they could bring in more staff and have more time for themselves and … Lexie's thoughts wandered on to their hopes for a family and she smiled to herself.

"Now, now, girl, one thing at a time, we must let nature take its course" she told herself before climbing out of the bath.

She dressed quickly in a thin cotton dress and hurried downstairs to see what Archie had prepared for lunch. She was surprised to see that the table was still bare although the shopping had been cleared away. She headed into the dining room but there was nothing there.

"Arch, where are you?" she called. There was no reply so she headed for the back door to go and check the industrial kitchen. It was then that she noticed the piece of paper pinned by the latch – 'OUTSIDE' it said in Archie's rather scrawly writing.

"Outside, where outside?" she mused to herself. She looked out into the yard but it was empty except for a few chickens and the car where they had left it. She returned to the door and looked out into the garden but that seemed quiet too. Then she spotted a movement over in the shadows under the old oak tree. It was hard to see as the light was so bright out there.

"Arch, is that you?"

"It's anyone you want it to be" his familiar voice drifted over to her.

She grinned "Then it's definitely Archie. Who else could I possibly need. What are you doing over there Arch?"

"Come and see."

She held her hand up to shield her eyes from the sun as she walked over to where he was sitting. He had laid the rug down under the tree and was sitting with his back up against the trunk. On a cloth laid out in front of him was all the makings of a great picnic. There was bread, meats, cheese, smoked salmon and assorted fruits along with a bottle of their favourite chilled wine with all the essential trimmings.

"Oh Archie, that's lovely" she exclaimed as she rushed to give him a hug "how did you know this was just what I wanted today?"

"Call it male intuition" he replied cheekily "I just thought we could do with a really relaxing afternoon after the week we've just had so I thought what could be easier – just put it all outside and the birds can pick up the crumbs afterwards. Now, don't I deserve something for reading your mind?"

"Of course" Lexie slid down to the ground, wrapped her arms around him and gave a huge hug and a sloppy kiss which gradually became more gentle and passionate as time went on.

Later that afternoon they were to be found still slumped against the oak tree but surrounded now by the slightly sordid remains of the picnic. They both had glasses in their hands as they leaned back against the trunk and surveyed the scene in front of them.

"Do you remember when we first came to look at this place together" whispered Lexie.

"Yes, we'd looked at so many places hadn't we and they none of them had seemed right. Too run down, too small, too awkward, no character, wrong location." Archie frowned at the memory.

"And then we came to this one. We nearly didn't. Do you remember the agent telling us it was a farm and we thought 'why does he think we want to buy a farm?'"

"Yes, and when we had looked at it" continued Lexie "we came out here and stood under this tree and just looked at each other and we both said 'this is it'. We just knew didn't we?"

Archie gazed across at the farm that they had grown to love. "You know it's funny isn't it. At one time I don't think I could ever have thought of anywhere except Glenbogle as 'home' but now it's different. This is ours, just yours and mine, sort of special to us. Glenbogle is a very special place and I will always love it and want to go back and visit but the people will change up there and I think it is the people of Glenbogle that I miss the most. I'd love to see some of them again."

Lexie sipped on her wine and shared his thoughts. She too missed seeing some of their old friends up there and then she fell to thinking of all the things that had happened there since she first met Molly and went to live in the big house. 

She so remembered the first time she had laid eyes on Archie. He had sauntered up the drive one day while she was cleaning in the hall and, she could admit it to herself now, she had been instantly smitten. Never for one moment thought that she would ever end up being married to him, let alone being a lady laird. So many things happened in Glenbogle that she would never want to forget.

"Of course" Lexie sat up with a start and Archie, who had been half asleep next to her, nearly fell over sideways as his support disappeared.

"Eh, what's up Lex?" he called as she rose to her feet and headed for the house.

"Back in a minute" she called to him.

The minute stretched into two, five, ten, and Archie was nodding off again by the time Lexie came out of the house again carrying a battered cardboard box. She dropped it down on the ground under the tree and Archie sat up with a start.

"Wha .. What's up? What's going on?"

"I've decided it's about time we sorted through this box of photographs and found some great ones to put up on the wall" explained Lexie.

Archie peered into the box. "Blimey, I didn't know we had this many. What do you want to do with them?"

She eyed him up and down and sighed, "Well it was all that talk about memories. We brought these down with us from Glenbogle but I kind of left them because when we first got here I didn't want all the memories hanging around us – fresh start and all that. But I think we can safely say we're over that now and I want to have a few pictures around. There are some frames in here as well and I can get some more if we need them."

Archie grinned up at her. "That's a great idea Lex. We haven't got any photographs up at all have we." He patted the ground next to him and reached for the box. "Now what have we got in here."

Lexie knelt down beside him and they delved inside. They were quite a mixture and had been thrown together in some haste before they left. There were a few old ones from the family archive that Molly had given them, some old clippings, photos that Lexie had saved up over the years and some quite recent snaps. It was a bit like opening up a treasure chest as neither of them could remember what exactly was in there.

"Hey Lex," yelled Archie "Look at this." He was holding up a picture of the front of Glenbogle House with a group of people standing in front of it. There were various members of the family and also various members of staff. Golly was standing stiffly to attention and Duncan was grinning and looking self-conscious. "And who might that be?" Archie was grinning at her.

Lexie looked a little embarrassed as she stared back at a young girl with long dark hair tied into pigtails, wearing a bright green top, a flowering skirt with pink leg warmers underneath and holding a yellow feather duster.

"Oh God, I looked awful Arch. I can't believe Molly actually took me on looking like that."

"Nonsense, she just took it as part of your character. Just like we all did. In fact that was one of the things that first attracted me really. The way you always did your own thing and never mind what anyone else thought about it."

"Oh, so now I don't wear pink slippers with orange skirts you'll be going off me then" giggled Lexie as she gave his arm a squeeze and planted a kiss on his cheek.

"Lex, you know I'd still love you whether you were wearing leopard skin print all over or black pin stripe, though …" he hesitated "personally I prefer the black rubber."

She gave him a friendly slap and carried on looking through the box.

"Ah, now there's a face from the past." She pulled out a picture of a man dressed in a wet suit standing next to the jetty in the front of the house and passed it over to Archie.

"Fleming" said Archie "Gosh, how long is it since we heard from him? We must get in touch again."

Lexie took the picture back and smiled as she gave it a stroke. "My Lancelot, you were always there to advise us weren't you? My knight in shining armour – or in this case black rubber. Are you sure you're not smitten Archie?"

He grinned back at her. "Somehow Fleming in black rubber doesn't have quite the same allure."

Lexie stared down at Lancelot Fleming's face. He had been the one bank representative that had really understood Glenbogle when the finances were at their worst and without his help they might well have lost the estate completely. "Arch, we must get him to come and visit."

Archie nodded "I agree. I liked good old Flem. Maybe he could give us some of his sound financial advise regarding the catering business."

"Mmmm" murmured Lexie who was back looking in the box again.

"You know some of these photographs I haven't seen for ages. Look at this one, it was taken on your parent's 40th wedding anniversary."

Archie looked down on a picture of Hector and Molly standing arm in arm on the lawn at Glenbogle House. The picture was obviously taken by flash at night and they were smiling into each other's faces with the glow from the fireworks shining on their cheeks.

"Yes, I think Golly took that one. It's good isn't it. Shall we frame that one? It's how I'd like to see them."

"Right then, I'll put the ones we want to have out to one side" said Lexie as she placed the picture to one side. "How about this one then?" She passed over a snap of Duncan and Golly standing by the wolf pen. Duncan was holding up a large salmon for the camera and Golly held some fishing rods. "Look at the smile on Duncan's face. It looks like he's caught that fish not Golly but we know better don't we Arch. Do you remember the salmon that had to be dug off the top of the electric fence?"

"Yes, I can still remember the smell as well" replied Archie. "Hey, have a look at this one. I haven't seen this one in ages. Mother must have slipped it in."

He held up a slightly faded and dog-eared photograph of a family group standing on some steps outside a building. There was a man in a tweed suit, a young woman holding the hand of a young child and two other children – a boy of about 5 and a girl of maybe 2 or 3.

"Recognise them?"

Lexie peered at the photograph and then her eyes opened wide in recognition.

"Why that's all your family. That's Hector and Molly – doesn't she look pretty – and that must be Jamie and Lizzie and – oh gosh – Archie that isn't you surely? You're wearing a dress! Don't tell me your parents really wanted a girl and chose to put you in a dress when you were small."

"Of course not. That's what every child wore in those days. Well .. every child of a certain class that is. Just when they were young of course. I remember mother telling me it was something to do with being very practical for nappy changing or something. Not that she did too much of that. We had Nanny Sharp until it was time for us to go to boarding school."

"Well I hope you weren't still wearing a dress when they packed you off to school" giggled Lexie. She spotted his discomfort and added "well I'm sure you looked very smart – once they decided you could actually be a boy."

Archie stared at the photograph. "Jamie and Lizzie aren't dressed much better. One things for sure we're not going to dress our children in anything like that."

A troubled look passed across Lexie's face. "You know Archie it might not happen straight away, or even at all. These things don't always happen just when we want them to."

"I know that Lex but it's not going to happen to us."

"Well I don't know about that. I was talking to Jill the other day and she told me they were trying for three years before she got pregnant with Emily. They started having tests and everything and they were thinking it just wasn't going to be. Then she fell pregnant just when they were about to see some specialist. That's why this new pregnancy was a bit of a surprise to them. A nice surprise of course."

"Well that's Jill and Matt you're talking about. We're going to be different."

Archie reached out and pulled Lexie over into his arms so that he could squeeze her tightly in a loving embrace. She smiled and reached up to return his kiss. "Well we'll just have to wait and see" she whispered.

Archie looked over her shoulder and his eyes took in the house and the garden and the buildings that represented their future. It was good to look through the photographs and share the memories but what was most important to him was right here with him now. He reached down for one photograph that he had spotted earlier.

"Look Lex, remember this?"

She broke from his embrace to see that he was holding up a photograph of themselves. It was taken on the day of their wedding after they had got back from the hillside. All their closest friends and family were standing by the door as Archie carried Lexie over the threshold of Glenbogle House. They were all clapping and laughing. It was such a happy picture.

"That's just got to go up hasn't it. It's just how I want to remember Glenbogle. Good people, good places, good times. It's not that we won't ever go back Lexie but things are different now. We'll always have the memories"

"And they are nearly all good memories, aren't they Arch?"

"Yes, good memories, Lex. I can even look back to the good times with Jamie and not get depressed."

"That's good Arch. Very good." She paused, thinking how Archie seemed so much more contented these days, then continued "Well we've finished all the wine. Shall I make us some coffee and we can look through the rest later?"

"That would do very nicely Mrs Macdonald."

Lexie headed for the house but just as she neared the door she heard his footsteps following her. "What is it Arch?"

"Just something I forgot to do when we moved in here."

With one movement he reached down and swept her up into his arms.

"Welcome to our new home Alexandra. May we and our children live long and happy lives here."


	25. Part 25

PART 25

June was turning out to be a very hot and sultry month, the dry heat oppressive even in the north of England, it seemed no where was cool. On one particularly hot and humid day, Archie and Lexie decided to decamp to the garden for the afternoon, taking portable phone, mobiles, lap top and paperwork. They sheltered under a large oak tree, relishing the meagre breeze.

Archie was leaning back against the trunk of the tree, talking to a client on the phone who had very exacting demands for their dinner party. Lexie was lying down, propping her head up on her hand, watching Archie and making faces to try and distract him, having abandoned the accounts she had been balancing.

She sighed thinking the call was never going to end, she decided the time had arrived to take matter into her own hands. She moved herself closer to Archie, as he gave her a look as if to say what are you doing and then she dropped a kiss on the base of his neck. Gradually, one by one she began to undo each of the buttons on his shirt, running kisses down his chest as she went. Archie was becoming more and more distracted and she could hear he was desperately trying to end the conversation. Just as she was sliding her hands into the waistband of his shorts, he hung up and threw down the phone, he reached down and put this arms round her waist, moving his hands and her top up her back, as she leant up to kiss him, he grabbed her and rolled her over.

A little later as they lay back against the tree, Lexie resting her head against his shoulder as Archie twisted his fingers through her hair

"Arch I really don't want to move but I have to go inside and get a cold drink, you want something?" she turned her head to look at him. He smiled and kissed her lingeringly

"mmm Lex well apart from you, I'd love a cold drink thanks"

As Lexie stood up, he grabbed hold of her hand

"Lex don't be long?" She bent down, to pick up her top which was entangled on the ground with Archie's shirt, and kissed him promising she would hurry.

Lexie had just got the ice cube tray out of the freezer and strawberries from the 'fridge, when Jill popped her head round the door

"Hi Lex, hot enough for you?"

"Oh hi Jill, come in" Lexie said a little distractedly, Jill watched as she put the ice cubes and strawberries down

"um Lex have I called at a inconvenient moment" she asked with a smile

"no no of course not, why?"

"well" said Jill laughing "you can't see you, but Lex you look a little flushed, your top is on inside out and your hair is all over the place, and then of course there are the strawberries and ice cubes!"

Lexie looking a little embarrassed replied "ah! rumbled, lets just say Arch and I were whiling away a hot afternoon in the garden!"

"right well I'll be quick"

"no Jill honestly its...."

"Lex come on are you telling me you'd rather be standing her talking to me?"

Lexie laughed "don't take it personally but no!"

"right well, I was wondering if you would be able to come into school to talk to the children about Scottish food for a project on food around the world"

"no problem, would you like me to bring in some samples of food?"

"that would be great, you'd need to tell me what first though, so I can inform the parents before hand, we are working on the plans, so I'll get back to you about when. Now I am going to leave you to go back to Archie!"

"bye Jill"

"bye Lex, enjoy!"

Lexie carried the tray outside with the drinks and strawberries, Archie looked at her dolefully as she placed the tray down

"Lex you were ages" he said as he pulled her towards him, so she was half lying on the ground and half on him

"I know Jill popped round" Lexie said giggling, Archie looked at her quizzically

"what?" he asked

"well she guessed what we had been doing as apparently I looked flushed, my top was inside out and my hair was all over the place"

"oh no how embarrassing"

"och Arch lighten up its quite funny really" Lexie said "she wanted to know if I'd go into the school to talk about Scottish food, for a school project"

"great, now Lex have we finished talking about Jill" Archie asked as began kissing her shoulders running his hands over her body. Lexie responded by slipping her hands inside the waistband of his jeans.

Eventually by the time they got their drinks the ice had melted and they were lukewarm, they lay back against the tree in a relaxed silence both lost in thought until Lexie spoke

"Arch I have to go to the post office, those invoices to send"

"oh Lex no don't go"

"come on Arch haven't you got those email inquiries to reply to?"

"yeah" Archie replied rolling his eyes

"well you do that while I go to the post office and then well I think we'll both need a shower and then who knows!" Lexie said

"you're on" Archie replied cupping her face in his hands and kissing her one last time

"Arch is the heat supposed to be an aphrodisiac?" Lexie asked laughing

"not sure, but if it is I hope this heat wave lasts all summer this has certainly been an afternoon to remember! Oh and Lex this time put your top on the right way round!" Lexie turned managed to find an ice cube which was only semi melted and threw it at his chest.

She made her way up the lane to the village post office, the village was very quiet everyone taking refuge from the heat. As she entered the post office it was stifling and she felt sorry for Bill who had obviously been stuck inside all day.

"Hello Bill, how are you?"

"I'm fine just a bit hot, how are you, hope you and Archie haven't had to slave over hot ovens today"

"no um luckily we haven't, just 12 first class stamps please Bill and this needs to go recorded delivery"

"rightio Lex, that's £6.48 please, they say this heat wave is due to last all summer, do you like the heat"

Lexie smiled thinking about Archie's comment earlier "I quite like it actually, well as long as I'm not cooking!"

"well then Lexie you and Archie must make sure you take a trip over to the coast you know it is an area of outstanding natural beauty and the beaches are amazing, Bamburgh is probably the best with the wide expanse of beach and the castle"

"oh Bill sounds lovely is it far from here, Archie and I fancied doing something this evening we could pack a picnic and go"

"no head out east towards the A1, cross over it following signs for the heritage coastline and it is about 5 miles on"

"oh Bill that's fantastic, well I'd better go I've got a picnic to pack, say hello Jean for me, see you soon, bye"

"bye Lexie, enjoy Bamburgh"

Lexie meandered back home lost in thought reliving her afternoon and thinking about the evening ahead, when she spotted Mandy sitting on a bench on the village green looking a little perplexed. Lexie debated whether or not to go over, in the end she decided she would, as really she had no issue with the woman.

"Hello Mandy, how are you?"

"oh hello Lexie, yes fine, fine"

Lexie took one look at her face and sat down "are you alright?"

"well actually no I'm not"

"what's up?"

"well um its Dan" Mandy explained somewhat awkwardly

"yes"

"well he's just given me £5000 in cash" Lexie raised her eyebrows as Mandy continued "the thing is where on earth did he get that kind of cash from, and he was very sort of well secretive when he gave it to me, I don't know something doesn't add up, he said it was to make up for all Jakey's maintenance that he'd missed, but no"

"mmm I see, so you think he had an ulterior motive in giving you the money then?"

"yeah I do but I just don't know what, look Lexie you won't tell anyone will you, I mean well just in case its not ok if you know what I mean"

"no no of course not" Lexie responded, something was niggling at the back of her mind about what Mandy had just told her, but she couldn't figure what exactly "look Mandy I've got to go, but well if you want to talk to anyone you know where I am"

"yeah thanks Lexie" she said distractedly.

Lexie continued on her way home, still trying to work out what was niggling her, in the end she dismissed it, and began to work out what was in the fridge for the picnic.

"oh Archie, Archie, Archie" Lexie called out in a sing song voice when she returned home "where are you, have I got the perfect plan for you this evening my gorgeous gorgeous man...............oh no" she said covering her face with her hands as she finally found Archie ensconced in the dining room with Matt pouring over plans for the office conversion "how embarrassing" she said, Archie turned and caught her eye and smiled suggestively. Matt stood watching this exchange and suddenly felt like he was intruding on something very private

"Matt I'm so sorry what must you think of me?" Lexie said mortified, as Archie tried to suppress a grin

Matt looked from Archie to Lexie and laughed "I'm kind of sensing I'm intruding here, this is a bad time we can do this tomorrow, I don't want to ruin your plans Lexie"

"no Matt it's fine, just excuse my wife I think the heat has affected her"

"no Matt stay I've got something I need to be doing in the kitchen, you boys stick with your architectural talk, I'll be fine, I'll just go and squirm privately with embarrassment in the kitchen"

"now are you sure?" Matt asked Archie raising his eyebrows as he spoke

"yep, but um mate be quick will you" Archie said laughing

Lexie retreated to the kitchen to prepare the picnic. She was in a daydream packing it all up when Archie snuck up behind her putting his arms around her waist and kissing her neck, she spun round in his arms "oh Arch how stupid do I feel"

"oh Lex they're friends and at least we've given them something to talk, now tell me what is this plan of yours?"

"well we're going to the beach for a picnic, you know how Jill and Matt have always raved about the coast, well Bill in the post office was telling me about one today, Bamburgh, so that is where we are going"

"sounds good, now" he continued moving in closer, smiling "didn't you promise me a shower earlier?"

"perhaps, mmm I think I did"

"so............"

"oh you mean you want to share a shower"

"Lexie Macdonald you know exactly that's what I mean" Archie continued his face moving closer to hers, as she stood and grinned at him

"but how can you be sure I want to have a shower with you" she continued teasingly

"well" Archie said as he let go of her waist with one hand and reached for a jay cloth "because its that or I'll wash you down with this"

"no" Lexie squealed as she ran away from him giggling, Archie ran after her in hot pursuit and grabbed hold of her as was about to go upstairs and he dangled the cloth over her face.

"ok ok Arch you win" she said as she took hold of his hand and flung the cloth in the general direction of the kitchen.

Finally they were in the car on their way to Bamburgh, as they drove along Lexie filled Archie in on her conversation with Mandy and the fact something was niggling her about it.

"Lex what is it about her story that is niggling you?"

"well, its Dan and this money she thinks there is something suspicious about it and, oh no I remember now!"

"what?"

"well remember the day we had that publicity event in the pub, well when we were bringing in all the things from the car I remember Dan accepting from someone a box of something and cash exchanging hands!"

Archie smiled at her "Lex have you been watching crime dramas again on television, no more Midsomer Murders for you!"

"no Arch think about, we know Dan is decidedly dodgy, maybe he is accepting and selling contraband cigarettes and alcohol on the side, makes a tidy profit but can't put it through the books, needs to get rid of some cash in a hurry and off loads it to Mandy, it makes perfect sense"

"mmm you could have a point Lex but you're not Miss Marple and don't get too carried away, but it might be worth asking a few people discreetly"

"oh Arch look its stunning" Lexie exclaimed as they pulled into the car park, a wide expanse of fine sand that went on for miles, backed by rolling green sand dunes and in the distance a glistening sea. Standing on a crag above the beach providing shelter from the wind a castle.

"I can see what everyone has been raving about its beautiful and so unspoilt" Archie added as the took the picnic and rug out of the car.

They clambered over the sand dunes onto the beach, although it was early evening the sun was still hot as they lay down the rug on the sand. Archie grabbed hold of Lexie's hand and they ran down the beach to where the waves were gently breaking on the shore.

"eeek, its cold" Lexie shrieked as her feet hit the water

"you're such a girl Lex" Archie laughed. They stood and looked out at the horizon

"I love the way the sea changes colour as it reflects the light of the sky, do you think those are the Farne Islands" Lexie asked pointing to her right

"mmm yep and that most be Holy Island" Archie said as he pointed to a mass of land apparently out of sea to their left "come on Lex shall we walk" he asked taking hold of her hand. They walked in the shallow water along the beach.

"beautiful isn't" Lexie said

"yes and so unspoilt"

"funny a castle by water kind of reminds me of Glenbogle"

"do you miss Glenbogle Lex?"

"yes and no, but I don't want to go back, I'm happy here" she turned and smiled as Archie put his arm across her shoulder and pulled her close

"mm I know exactly what you mean the future is here, you know Lex this beach faces east I bet the sunrise here is amazing"

"mmm I bet"

"you know I'm sure I spotted a small hotel on our drive through the village, why don't you set out the picnic while I go and see if I can book us a room"

"you're on" Lexie said as she turned to smile at him

"I love you" Archie said kissing her

"I love you too" Lexie replied.


	26. Part 26

PART 26

Lexie sat hugging her knees looking out to sea the picnic spread out beside her. She turned and spotted a dot in the distance she knew was Archie, as he got closer she could see he was smiling with a distant look in his eyes.

"all booked" she asked

"ah, well um no they were fully booked, must be the weather"

"oh well we'll just have to go home after our picnic, pity though would have been fun to have a night away"

"well I did have an idea" Archie said grinning

"yes?" Lexie responded questioningly

"well we could always stay the night on the beach"

"on the beach, Archie Macdonald are you completely mad?"

"but we did those two times on honeymoon"

"yes but Archie that was different those were beaches in the Bahamas and the Indian Ocean, this is the north sea in the north of England, very very different"

"I suppose, but we are having a heatwave Lex, its humid it will stay warm all night and you've got me"

Lexie smiled at him" but Arch the breeze is getting up and this sand is very fine, it will get everywhere"

"oh go on Lex, where is your sense of adventure?"

Lexie looked at Archie's pleading face "oh alright, but on one condition if it gets too cold or uncomfortable we go home"

"fantastic" Archie said kissing her, "right I'm starving lets eat this picnic."

As they ate, they watched various people taking an evening walk along the beach. They followed the progress of a couple with a young child and a very lively labrador.

"You know Arch we should get a dog" Lexie commented "I miss not having dogs around"

"mmmm" Archie responded "well as long as its not like Useless, that dog was something of a liability"

Lexie smiled "he just had a strong personality"

"but Lex I mean do you think its a good idea"

"what do you mean?"

"well you know a baby and a puppy do they mix"

Lexie laughed "Arch aren't you jumping the gun a bit, we've not got either yet!"

"no, no I guess it is quite a good idea"

"of course it is, it was my idea" Lexie yawned

Suddenly she stood up and started shaking herself

"Lex what on earth are you doing" Archie asked looking very puzzled

"its this sand, its getting everywhere"

"well you're shaking into the strawberries, I don't like crunchy sand encrusted strawberries"

Lexie turned and grinned at him "well Archie Macdonald you're just fussy"

"me fussy?"

Laughing Lexie sat back down and settled herself against a sand dune

"Arch its going to be a long night its only 9 o'clock, what time is sun rise about 4.30?"

"mmm about then, oh I'm sure we'll be fine" Archie replied as he eased himself against the sand dune next to her.

"well don't you go getting any ideas, that sand will get everywhere"

"ok ok"

"I wonder where that money did come from that Dan gave Mandy if he did come by it by illegal means"

"oh Lex we're not back to you being Miss Marple again are we?"

"no but aren't you just a little bit intrigued?"

"no not really" then seeing Lexie's face, Archie added "well just a little bit"

"so what shall we do to find out then?"

"hang on what's this we and what do you mean find out?"

"I mean find out where Dan got the money from"

"well supposing he had a flash of guilt and withdrew the money legitimately from his savings?"

"Arch, this is Dan we're talking about sleazeball of the century, as if he would do something like that!"

"yeah I guess you're right"

"don't know about you but I'm feeling a wee bit sleepy" Lexie said as she tucked her head in the crock of Archie's arm "trouble is Arch, you're not quite as comfy as my pillow at home!"

"well I'm very sorry I don't fit your specifications" Archie responded with mock consternation

Lexie giggled as she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep. Archie reached into his pocket for his mobile to set the alarm, he didn't want them waking up late and missing the sunrise altogether.

A little after midnight Lexie woke up feeling cold, as she came to she realised Archie was missing.

"Arch, Arch where are you she called"

As her eyes became accustomed to the light, she could just make out a figure a few yards away from her

"sorry Lex I couldn't sleep and was looking at the castle reflected in the moonlight" Archie said as he sat down again and cuddled up close to Lexie and leant down to kiss her

"that's ok I just wondered where you were"

"well its nice to be missed"

"of course you were!" Lexie said kissing him back, as she drifted back off to sleep

The loud beep beep of the mobile alarm woke them both just as the sun was peeping out on the horizon, They sat together, in a companionable and happy silence watching the beautiful sunrise in front of them.

"That was just stunning Arch, well worth the effort"

"it was truly amazing, you know sometimes it has to be said that there is nothing more amazing than nature, come on you time to head home I think"

Nodding her head and yawning Lexie agreed as they collected their belongings together,

"Arch stop or slow down do something"

"Lex what on earth..."

"I'm sure I just saw Dan in that lay-by back there putting something into the back of his van"

"Lex its 5.30 in the morning, why on earth would Dan be in a lay-by with a van"

"precisely, turn around and go back, drive slowly and I can take a photo with my phone"

"Lex..."

"go Arch, we've no time to loose, this could be us uncovering his scam"

"Lex I really I don't think"

"oh Archie for goodness sake, are you a man or a mouse just drive"

"ok ok"

"now you'll have to avoid the bumps and potholes so I can hold the phone steady to take the photo"

"Lex what are you planning to do with this photo anyway?"

"no idea but it's evidence"

"evidence of what?" Archie asked as he tried to execute a three point turn, a little tricky in a 4x4

"no idea of that either"

"right"

"its just round this bend Arch, ok here goes"

Lexie leaned out of the window as casually as she could and captured Dan by the side of the road

"I got him Arch I got him, now we have something. I'm sure he was up to no good, you have to admit it is very suspicious"

"well yeah I suppose it is a bit odd, so now you have this photo, now what?"

"well I don't know but at least we have something and I'm sure more will happen, I just know it"

"oh you do, do you"

"yep, lets face it that man deserves his comeuppance and nothing would give me greater pleasure than to be the one to deliver it, mind you I suppose Mandy has a greater claim than me, oh well"

Archie smiled at Lexie's musing as he turned the car round and headed back in the direction of Banbridge. They arrived home just after 6am,

"I'm off for an hour's sleep after that night on the beach, before we get started on the work we need to catch up on from yesterday" Lexie said smiling at Archie, "what about you?"

"well I'm not too sleepy think I'll get started on the paperwork, whilst my distraction is sleeping!" Archie replied

"your distraction, I think you'll find you're the distraction, honestly!"

"ok Mrs No Distraction at all, lets make a date 7.30 in the kitchen for breakfast smoothies"

"you're on see you then"

Archie was preparing the smoothies in the kitchen, pondering the mystery of Dan and the money. Whilst he wasn't sure about Lexie's desire to solve the mystery, he had to admit there was something odd going on. He desperately tried to think of a plausible explanation for Dan's lay-by rendezvous.

"morning Mr Distraction" Lexie said, interrupting his thoughts as she put her arms around his waist. He smiled at her claim she wasn't a distraction, when here she was making him loose his train of thought.

"what are you smiling at?" Lexie asked

"oh just you, claiming to be no distraction when you interrupt my very important thought processes about Dan Dan the nasty man"

"oh and?"

"well I don't know you interrupted me!"

Lexie hit him playfully, "oh you, so what's in this morning's smoothie concoction then?"

"yoghurt, milk, banana, strawberry and honey"

"mmm yum" Lexie said as she took a sip

"I've done heaps of work Lex, we've got four menu plans to work out though, so how about we start after this?"

"sure, though of course if you think I'll be a distraction you could do them by your self and I could just lie out in the garden with a book!"

"no, I'll value your input and expertise thank you very much, but if you're very good I might let you chill in the garden later!"

"why thank you kind sir"

Lexie and Archie had been working on the menus for about an hour and a half when they were interrupted by a knock at the door, and Emily came bounding in

"Lexie, Lexie" she cried as she came bounding up to Lexie and flung her arms around her

"hello Ems" said Lexie as she kissed her on top of her head

"oh Ems I told you to wait until they said it was ok to go in, you never know..." Jill said grinning at Lexie

"oh you're fine today we're working"

"oh well I meant we might be interrupting your work and we are"

"Jill Langley I know that isn't what you meant and I have only just recovered from embarrassing myself in front of Matt yesterday" Lexie laughed

"Jill you're a welcome break, menu planning can be very tedious" Archie assured

Emily bored by the conversation, went and tugged on Archie's hand "Archie please can we go and see the chickens and look for eggs, please, please"

"ok Ems, lets leave your Mummy and Lexie to chat then"

"so" said Jill smiling

"what?"

"well how was the rest of your day?"

"very lovely thank you, until I embarrassed myself, I'll never be able to look Matt in the face again"

"oh Lex come on it was Matt and it wasn't as if you were dancing naked around the house, anyway you're going to have to face Matt again and hopefully tonight"

"oh, when, where, why and how?"

"well there is a midsummer barbecue at the pub tonight and we were hoping you two would come along with us. I know you've not been near the pub since that horrible business with Dan at the May Fayre but you can't stay away forever, and we can sit out in the garden away from him and Mum is coming too with her handbag, so if there is any bother"

Lexie laughed, "well I'll ask Arch when he comes back with Ems but you're right, you'll never guess what we did last night"

"Lex you sure you want to share!"

"we spent the night on Bamburgh beach to see the sunrise"

"oh that is so romantic"

"well I'm not sure about that, it was jolly uncomfortable, Arch doesn't make a great pillow"

"Lexie Macdonald are you taking my name in vain again"

"no Arch just telling Jill about our beach exploits"

"look Mummy look, 3 eggs and Archie says I can take them home with me for my tea! He says he likes scrambled eggs best" Emily informed Jill excitedly.

"Arch, Jill has invited us to go along with them to a midsummer barbecue at the pub tonight, what do you think?"

"sounds good to me, but what about you Lex, are you happy to go" Archie asked slipping an arm round her waist

"yes I think it would be good to go, Jill said I can't stay away forever and she's right"

"that's great then, look Em and I will leave you to get on with your work, see you at the pub around 7"

"ok Lex you ready for this, we don't have to go if you don't want to" Archie asked as they stood outside the pub

"no I'm fine" she replied squeezing his hand

"you look gorgeous by the way" Archie replied smiling just as Emily came bounding round the corner

"hey you two" called Matt "glad to see you could tear yourselves away from each other and come out for the night"

"thank you very much Matthew. lovely to see you as well" Lexie replied

Matt laughed "come on first rounds on me!"

They found themselves a table in the garden and settled down. Just as Matt was returning with the drinks, Lucy approached the table

"Hi Arch, Hi Lex, good to see you"

"hey Lucy how are you?"

"well to be honest not so great, its bad news about Duncan isn't it?"

"what's bad news about Duncan?" Archie and Lexie asked together concerned

"you mean you haven't heard?" Lucy replied

"no" Archie said

"well he's not coming back to Banbridge, I'm not too sure exactly what happened, but apparently it all got a bit tricky on the estate, Paul kicked up a fuss and Dunc felt he couldn't leave"

"well that's just typical Paul" Archie said crossly "that man's always making life difficult"

"I don't understand Lucy, you mean Paul said no to Dunc leaving" Lexie asked perplexed

"yep that pretty much sums it up, I didn't want to say too much I know you're related"

"well only just" Archie replied crossly

"poor Dunc and poor you Lucy, I'm really sorry that is very unfair of Paul, perhaps the power of running the estate has gone to his head and he thinks he can run people's lives as well" Lexie added

"well I better get back to work" Lucy said, leaving Archie and Lexie stunned at this turn of events

"who's Paul again?" Matt asked

"my half brother, but we only found out about his existence about 3 years ago, and lets just say we didn't really hit it off"

"I see" said Matt sensing this was not a subject to pursue.

Archie sat silently fuming at Paul, what was wrong with him. He knew he'd found his peace with him, but there was despite everything still that little nagging voice in the back of his head, telling him Paul had driven him away from Glenbogle. He knew he shouldn't let it get to him, but sometimes...

Archie looked up as he became aware of Lexie holding his hand and quietly saying his name, she smiled as he caught her eye, instantly making him feel lighter

"come on Arch, don't let it bother you, remember we are only hearing this second hand and lets face it, Duncan could have just walked out if he really wanted to, I know its hard and I'm cross with Paul too, but you've got to just let it go"

"I know Lex I know"

"so Mr Distraction, let me see if I can turn you into the life and soul of the party" Lexie teased.


	27. Part 27

PART 27

"I'm going to call crimestoppers" Lexie exclaimed as she sat bolt upright in bed

"what Lex?" a bleary eyed Archie asked

"Crimestoppers, I'm going to call them"

"what are you going on about its 3 o'clock in the morning"

"oh Arch" Lexie said rolling her eyes "you know about Dan"

"but you know nothing about Dan"

"that's just a technicality, we know there is something odd going on, I mean last night in the pub, and that money he gave Mandy"

"Lex, the only odd thing going on in the pub last night was you making us move tables left, right and centre so you could follow his every move!"

"fine, throw scorn on my idea, but when I receive a reward for apprehending a criminal"

"look Miss Marple, don't you think you're getting just a wee bit carried away here, and as much as I'd love to listen to your theorising, I really want to sleep" Archie said as he slid back down under the covers.

Lexie though stayed where she was thinking about Dan and the pub, and trying to work out exactly what was going on. What was puzzling her was how exactly he was making cash on the side, which she assumed is what he was doing. Then it hit her maybe he was selling alcohol illegally, not acquired from the brewery, but maybe from abroad. That's it she thought, she turned to tell Archie but he was fast asleep again. "Typical" she muttered. So if that was the case, when was it delivered?

Lexie thought about this for sometime and decided the most logical time was first thing in the morning, when the pub was closed and therefore quiet. As she drifted back off to sleep she decided to go out early the next morning, and see if she could catch Dan in the act.

The early morning sun streamed in through the window as Archie woke up yawning. He glanced at the clock, 6am, early, then he looked over at Lexie who was still sleeping peacefully. He smiled as he remembered her middle of night exclamation. He leant over and affectionately kissed her cheek as he eased himself out of bed. He decided to go out early to the village shop come post office come bakery for some fresh croissants for a special Sunday breakfast.

As he walked up the lane, Archie pondered Lexie's theory about Dan and wondered if her hunch was right. He figured there was a strong possibility she was, she had a knack of being right about these things, that was one of the things he loved about her. There were so many layers to her personality, a bit like the layers of an onion and he just loved peeling them back and discovering new things about her. Sometimes his feelings and love for her were so overpowering, so all consuming it scared him.

He felt sure that in comparison he must be a little dull, but then he thought Lexie doesn't think that, but she had made him more himself. What an odd thought he pondered, how was that possible. He reflected his stifling public school education and all that battling with his father especially after Jamie's death. Somehow though, Lexie made everything seem so much easier and brighter, she'd shown him not be afraid of his feelings or afraid of expressing his emotions. Then he wondered what he had given her in return, his love? Was that enough, he knew Lexie would be horrified to know he was thinking like this, it is so much easier to see the good in others than in yourself, but then he rationalised there was more to him, after all if there wasn't she wouldn't love him like she did.

He smiled to himself as he thought about their plans for a family and tried to visualise a mini Lexie running around or maybe even a mini him. He tried to imagine what it would be like to be a father, it was difficult but he felt sure it would be a powerful and wonderful experience.

Archie snapped out of his reverie as he realised he was passing the pub. He noticed an unmarked white van parked outside the pub, very similar to the one they had seen the previous morning parked in the lay by next to Dan's van. Curiosity got the better of him and he slowed trying to see if anything suspicious was going on. Just as he was telling himself not to be so silly, listening Lexie's ramblings, he heard Dan call out to a stocky man climbing into the driver's seat

"ok then Bob see you Tuesday and double the order for red and white, I have a contact down in South Shields who wants a few cases for a party, and am hoping to flog him some beer from the brewery as well"

"will do Dan, see you Tuesday then"

Archie hurried up the lane before Dan saw him and realised he had over heard. He tried to work out what it all meant, was Dan dealing in contraband alcohol, surely he wouldn't be so stupid, to do that from a pub? But then Dan wasn't exactly the most intelligent man on the planet, Archie reasoned.

"Morning Archie, you're up bright and early" Bill greeted him as he entered the village shop

"yes, its such a beautiful morning, thought I'd pop up here get the papers and some of your fresh croissants and Lexie and I could enjoy a leisurely breakfast outside."

"great idea, just croissants you want or pain au chocolat as well or pain au raisin?"

"um a couple of croissants and one of each of the others, Bill I've just seen something very odd outside the pub"

"oh yes" replied Bill a little hesitantly

"mmm an unmarked van delivering crates of wine" Archie decided to stretch the truth slightly to see what reaction he got from Bill, who he knew was a mind of information about the village

"ah, look Archie, I think we both know that the words Dan and honesty do not go together, and there are some things best left alone"

"but if he's breaking the law..."

"yes but what proof do any of us have"

"yeah I see what you mean" Archie replied, thinking though about the exchange he had overheard and that maybe just maybe he did have some evidence "well thanks for these" he said waving the bag of breakfast goodies.

When he got home the house was silent so he assumed Lexie was still asleep. He wandered upstairs to wake her. He wandered into the bedroom and knelt on the bed

"Lex, wakey wakey" he called as he lent over and gave her a gentle kiss

Eventually Lexie stirred and reached out to him "Arch you're dressed, come on back to bed it's only quarter to seven" she said as she pulled at his hand

"but Lex it's a beautiful morning, I've just been out to buy fresh croissants and we can have a leisurely breakfast, and start on the garden before it gets too hot, I know how the heat affects you" he said winking

"but Arch I want to stay in bed, come join me" she said as alluringly as her sleepy head would let, as Archie switched on the radio with a teasing expression on his face to help wake her

"come on Lex" he said pulling away from her

"Archie Macdonald are you telling me you'd rather have a bowl of cornflakes than me!"

"no Lex um" Archie stumbled for words as Lexie looked at him with a questioning expression on her face

Archie was saved from answering as the music on the radio changed, "oh I love this song" Lexie commented as Ronan Keating started to sing "The Way You Make Me Feel" then with an expression of cunning on her face she continued "come on Arch, you want me to get up well dance with me to this song"

"dance, dance to this I'm not dancing to Ronan Keating" Archie responded

"oh Arch you and your Athlete and Maroon 5, don't be such a music snob, dance with me or you'll be gardening on your own and sharing this bed with a bowl of cornflakes" Lexie said as she threw a pillow in his direction.

Knowing he was defeated Archie grabbed both her hands, hauled her onto her feet, moved one hand round her back as they began to dance. As the song continued they leaned in closer and closer to each other, as the song ended Lexie pulled Archie's face towards her and kissed him intensely. As she pulled away, she smiled at him and said

"now tell me that was better than a bowl of cornflakes!"

"mmm I suppose so" Archie replied grinning

"Archie" Lexie said, as she hit him playfully

"just kidding" he said kissing her

"mmm, you go and lay out this breakfast delight, and I'll go and get washed and dressed."

"so you're saying then" Lexie said waving a knife with a blob of strawberry jam on it in the air "that Dan is selling contraband alcohol in the pub without the brewery's knowledge" she asked as Archie filled her in, on what he had observed

"exactly that"

"but that's illegal, haha there must be something we can do"

"yes but what?"

"and that would explain the cash he gave to Mandy, maybe he needed to get it off the premises quickly or didn't what to have to explain it away to the tax people"

"yes" Archie responded a little distractedly as he tried to work out what they could do

"so Arch do we just phone the police or the brewery then?"

"well I'm not sure it's as simple as that Lex, I think maybe we need to talk to Margaret, Mandy and Lucy, after all we don't want Lucy implicated if she works there, and Mandy for accepting that money"

"mmm I see what you mean, so I guess we should go and see them later."

"...so you see that is what we've stumbled upon and the conclusion we've come to" Archie said as he and Lexie finished explaining to Mandy, Lucy and Margaret what they had discovered.

"and well we were wondering what you knew?" Lexie asked

The three women looked at each other, as if trying to decide who should speak first, eventually Lucy began

"well, I've had my suspicions for a while, pretty much since I've been working at the pub, but I didn't know what to do, I told Mum" she said looking at Margaret

"yes she did and I told without proof there was nothing we could do, I know he's my nephew but he can't be trusted, but Mandy I knew nothing about the money he gave you"

"I know I'm sorry Margaret I guess I was scared and just didn't want to say anything, I wish I had now"

"so" said Archie looking around the room "are we all agreed that between us we probably have enough information to now involve the police?"

Everyone murmured agreement "so Arch do we phone or go to the local police station, where is that by the way?" Lexie asked

"well the nearest manned station is in Berwick, I guess we could phone and get someone to come out to us?" Margaret suggested

"I think I'd be happier with that" Mandy said

"but probably best they don't come here, as we don't to arouse Dan's suspicions" Archie said "so the best thing is if we meet them at our house"

"good idea Archie" Margaret said "I'll get the phone and we can call them now, before we change our minds"

"Well thank you very much Mr and Mrs Macdonald, Mrs Mason, Miss Mason and Mrs Shaw, you have been most helpful and we will be in touch. You will probably all need to come down to the station to make formal statements." the police inspector said as he left.

"phew, well that's it we've done it, not sure about the rest of you but I could do with a cup of tea" Lexie said, everyone agreed as she went off to make the tea

"I wonder how quickly they will act on our information" Mandy said

"no idea, but I guess they'll contact the brewery and probably follow up what I heard this morning about next Tuesday" Archie said

"I hope nothing awful happens, I mean supposing when he finds out its us he might try to get some sort of revenge, I'm so glad I didn't use any of that money he gave me" Mandy said worriedly

"Don't worry I'm sure it will be fine, remember we're all in this together and he deserves what's coming" Margaret assured her

"Margaret's right Mandy, he won't be able to do much to any of us if anything at all" Archie added

"here we are then tea, oh and home made coffee cake, don't about everyone else but my nerves are shot to pieces and I felt the need for a sugar hit" Lexie said as she placed a loaded tray down on the table.

After she had passed round the tea and cake, Lexie raised her mug "well I propose a toast to us, our crime fighting exploits and to Dan Shaw finally getting his comeuppance"

"hear hear" everyone agreed as they all raised their mugs to join Lexie in the toast.


End file.
